‘Have You Given Up Hope?’ Mehdi & Bassem reunite and get personal in Toronto, on the uphill struggle for Palestinian freedom, ongoing Israeli impunity, and the coming US election
I feel like Bassem right now. Though deeply authentic, it feels like our collective grief, horror and despair watching a live genocide has been made performative by the narrow avenues we're allowed to express it and act to relieve it. Meanwhile those who mourn only the deaths and illegal detention of Israelis get their grief, horror, and despair re-legitimised and re-amplified daily while simultaneously cheering on or dismissing the deaths of tens, soon to be hundreds, of thousands of human beings. Since this reality mirroring has proven possible, so many more horrors, closer and closer to home, are also now possible. We are forced into planning for remembrance while those whom we plan to remember are still alive. It's nauseatingly twisted.
❤️ I feel your pain. When I get like this, I stop scrolling and walk in the trees and remember that there are black holes and other mysteries in the universe. When I’m feeling better, I come back to take my place in the fight. I am a tiny particle of dust and hold a universe within me. There could be no shadow if there wasn’t light. (Poetry helps. Anything that is about connecting to something sacred, embodied or irrational.)
This genuinely helped, thank you. I suppose we have to remember there is a world to fight for, even if it feels sometimes like we don't deserve it. Even if we don't, our children, everybody's children, do ❤️
This was wonderful! I have so much respect for both of you. I feel despair as well having watch this ongoing horror for more than a year. Solidarity from Ireland 🇮🇪🇮🇪
Thanksgiving is supposed to commemorate how settlers and natives celebrated the harvest together in the 1600s. It came to Canada when loyalists moved north after the declaration of independence.
It's a charade, kind of like Pocahontas, to whitewash the legacy of settler colonialism in North America.
Thanksgiving in Canada, is a version of Anglican Harvest Festival. As my husband says Canadian farmer give thanks when the harvest is in, so end of September. Americans give thanks when the farm subsidies are in the bank.
Haha, love to you all up north. Farming is a hard life. I know every farmer says thanks when the harvest is in. But still I got a good laugh, and a smile. Any farmer, of course knows, thanksgiving has to come earlier the further north you have to farm, and the going gets harder too. Deepest respect to all you northern farmers and your kin, and the history you all have up there.
That's not true. Thanksgiving here commemorates the end of the harvest season, which is why it's a completely different month. Canada is a settler colonial state that continues to actively harm Indigenous peoples (e.g., no drinkable water on reserves, the RCMP and other police, the foster-care system, etc...), but Thanksgiving isn't actually built around the same BS myth here that it is in the USA.
Let's not kid ourselves. It's cultural appropriation in Canada too. The excerpt from the article I've cited below makes this very clear.
Brian Rice, who is a professor at the University of Winnipeg and a member of the Mohawk Nation states, "Today, many Indigenous people feel "ambivalent" towards the holiday. Because for a lot of people, it isn't a celebration, and certainly the original people who had that first Thanksgiving, the Wampanoags and all of those other groups, the Powhatans, obviously not. Many of them don't even exist any longer.
Not just because they are naturalize citizen but they don't take their orders from the Corporate American and the Oligarchy in America. So, the citizenship issue is a mute point in their case.
Have to commend Mehdi for his positivity and then Bassem for the dose of reality. Let's be aware of the injustices and try to do something to alleviate in our own way - educate, support, stay visible, and vote. Nothing will change in a year or ten - for if the arc of history to bend towards justice, "we the people" will have to improve our lot via education and awareness and then unity.....
In the last year, I've been able to build relationships with several people in Gaza, now struggling to survive and care for their families, on a daily basis. I began donating to them individually (thru GoFundMe and PayPal accounts) and when I couldn't send more, I sent letters to friends and asked everyone I felt might be willing, if they would help me. And they have. It's the only thing that's kept me sane.
Man, was that therapeutic. I feel so much better now. (Actually, I do, since misery loves company.)
But there is certainly something to be said for grieving without having to grieve alone. Grief honors, as Dar Jamail points out, in his great work, *The End of Ice*, that and those for whom one grieves.
Mr Hasan, Dr. Youssef, may the wind always be at your backs. Thank you.
I hope Bassem sees this. Don’t you dare give up hope! You don’t have the option, stop saying I’m here to laugh on stage you are not just a standup comedian anymore and you know it! You are now a defender of this cause and kids in Gaza have not surrendered and died don’t you dare do lay down and surrender! If it was only about power and money this earth wouldn’t be here today Bassem. لولا دفع الله الناس بعضهم ببعض لفسدت الارض.
But God sends people like you, like college students, like Mehdi, like PinkCode, like many others to fight evil. It sounds to me you are not a “realist”, you are just not a believer in God you are a believer in power (money that is). You have all the faith in power so you see all the zios power and truly believe they will win this.If you are truly a “realist”, and you look at realty from history of mankind, you would know that no tyranny abused power like this without crashing to an end. From Pharaoh to Hitler. Zionism will end. “Reality” tells you this. You are one of the people God “pushed” to defend this cause with what he has given you of sharp memory and satire skills, do your thing! Your words affect many people. Don’t be another bullet in Hind’s chest!
Your beautiful encouragement to Bassem reminded me of a poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, an African-American poet, writer and activist. Here is the poem read by Viola Davis: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5L-kKxePGqA
Bassem, thank you for your detailed thoughts on this dystopian world we are in via media and algorithms. I’ve been witnessing it first hand and it is so very maddening.
Thank you Mehdi for creating this space. Keep doing what you do.
It is always great to see and listen to you both. Not that I needed to be even more desperate and depressed 😅 but it feels somehow good to know I am not alone. Although, would be nice to have such a bright people to give us some very positive news and point out the solutions or show us the light at the end of the tunnel (Mehdi, you tried hard to do that 🙏🏻 😉). The reality is so heavy. Thank you for not giving up, going to use your energy to get up and continue ✌️🍉
What Bassem said is chilling because it rings true. This level of control our leaders are exerting ensures those collage protesters will never be congress people, and that means this is a fight we lost a long time ago.
What is it called when you wake up in a nightmare?
I don't think we should ever stop fighting, but I don't see how we'll be able to change things before this genocide is fully carried out.
I believe that if we still have somewhat real elections (many progressives have won their seats of power Without a Single donation from any PAC, let along AIPAC) then it's still possible that a few of the protestors, the few who would desire to represent others in our strangely corrupt but sometimes not system, could be voted in. If we have learned anything this century, it's that we Don't know what can happen, in this ancient battle between the Oligarchs of inherited wealth and privilege, and the people. We the people are still empowered with a vote. I live in CA, so I can vote "uncommitted."
But if I lived in my hometown in PA, I'd have to vote for Harris.
Yes, It's looking very dark.
Trump surprised even the unholy ALEC members who engineer the RNC. But they ran with it. Southern Strategy on steroids. And the court was captured. And the regulations were destroyed.
So it's WOMEN with our allies in the LGBTQi community, and a sadly half-assed amount of cis but not resentful MEN, who will win this round. And then MAYBE the young people the women raised. Who in spite of all the silos, are largely bending the arc once again.
And then we have to find ways to heal. Like laughter.
The genocide against First Nations here in Canada has not ended, it is ongoing in the form of lack of clean drinking water, disproportionate incarceration and numbers of First Nations children in Foster Care and Missing and Murdered women, girls and two-spirited people, along with ongoing racism and discrimination. We like to pretend it is in the past, that we can simply pay lip service in the form of empty land acknowledgement without actually doing anything to fix these myriad problems.
I grew up on the border of the local tribe's reserve lands, and I credit the parents of my NA friends for giving me *many* examples of activism from pre-kindergarten onward. That was a real privilege, as was my own parents' encouragement. It's an ongoing problem here in the USA. I do find hope and encouragement in the examples of the now-adults I used to babysit long ago. One a tribal lawyer, another an excellent social worker, yet another a rehab/veteran's counselor, etc.
I feel like Bassem right now. Though deeply authentic, it feels like our collective grief, horror and despair watching a live genocide has been made performative by the narrow avenues we're allowed to express it and act to relieve it. Meanwhile those who mourn only the deaths and illegal detention of Israelis get their grief, horror, and despair re-legitimised and re-amplified daily while simultaneously cheering on or dismissing the deaths of tens, soon to be hundreds, of thousands of human beings. Since this reality mirroring has proven possible, so many more horrors, closer and closer to home, are also now possible. We are forced into planning for remembrance while those whom we plan to remember are still alive. It's nauseatingly twisted.
I'm feeling exactly the same. I'm emotionally exhausted and am in total despair.
❤️ I feel your pain. When I get like this, I stop scrolling and walk in the trees and remember that there are black holes and other mysteries in the universe. When I’m feeling better, I come back to take my place in the fight. I am a tiny particle of dust and hold a universe within me. There could be no shadow if there wasn’t light. (Poetry helps. Anything that is about connecting to something sacred, embodied or irrational.)
This genuinely helped, thank you. I suppose we have to remember there is a world to fight for, even if it feels sometimes like we don't deserve it. Even if we don't, our children, everybody's children, do ❤️
Brilliantly put.
This was wonderful! I have so much respect for both of you. I feel despair as well having watch this ongoing horror for more than a year. Solidarity from Ireland 🇮🇪🇮🇪
Thanksgiving is supposed to commemorate how settlers and natives celebrated the harvest together in the 1600s. It came to Canada when loyalists moved north after the declaration of independence.
It's a charade, kind of like Pocahontas, to whitewash the legacy of settler colonialism in North America.
Thanksgiving in Canada, is a version of Anglican Harvest Festival. As my husband says Canadian farmer give thanks when the harvest is in, so end of September. Americans give thanks when the farm subsidies are in the bank.
Haha, love to you all up north. Farming is a hard life. I know every farmer says thanks when the harvest is in. But still I got a good laugh, and a smile. Any farmer, of course knows, thanksgiving has to come earlier the further north you have to farm, and the going gets harder too. Deepest respect to all you northern farmers and your kin, and the history you all have up there.
That's not true. Thanksgiving here commemorates the end of the harvest season, which is why it's a completely different month. Canada is a settler colonial state that continues to actively harm Indigenous peoples (e.g., no drinkable water on reserves, the RCMP and other police, the foster-care system, etc...), but Thanksgiving isn't actually built around the same BS myth here that it is in the USA.
Let's not kid ourselves. It's cultural appropriation in Canada too. The excerpt from the article I've cited below makes this very clear.
Brian Rice, who is a professor at the University of Winnipeg and a member of the Mohawk Nation states, "Today, many Indigenous people feel "ambivalent" towards the holiday. Because for a lot of people, it isn't a celebration, and certainly the original people who had that first Thanksgiving, the Wampanoags and all of those other groups, the Powhatans, obviously not. Many of them don't even exist any longer.
https://www.kings.uwo.ca/about-kings/edid/news-and-events/edid-news-room/canadian-thanksgiving-history/
Thank you Bassam and Medhi. I understand your despair but we must hold each other up as you both are doing for each other. I pray for a better world.
we need you both as US President and Vice-President :)
How ironic that neither of them are eligible to hold those offices.
Not just because they are naturalize citizen but they don't take their orders from the Corporate American and the Oligarchy in America. So, the citizenship issue is a mute point in their case.
Have to commend Mehdi for his positivity and then Bassem for the dose of reality. Let's be aware of the injustices and try to do something to alleviate in our own way - educate, support, stay visible, and vote. Nothing will change in a year or ten - for if the arc of history to bend towards justice, "we the people" will have to improve our lot via education and awareness and then unity.....
In the last year, I've been able to build relationships with several people in Gaza, now struggling to survive and care for their families, on a daily basis. I began donating to them individually (thru GoFundMe and PayPal accounts) and when I couldn't send more, I sent letters to friends and asked everyone I felt might be willing, if they would help me. And they have. It's the only thing that's kept me sane.
Man, was that therapeutic. I feel so much better now. (Actually, I do, since misery loves company.)
But there is certainly something to be said for grieving without having to grieve alone. Grief honors, as Dar Jamail points out, in his great work, *The End of Ice*, that and those for whom one grieves.
Mr Hasan, Dr. Youssef, may the wind always be at your backs. Thank you.
You guys rock. Thank you for having the skill, strength and humanity to be out front. No pressure :), but the world needs you to keep doing that!
I hope Bassem sees this. Don’t you dare give up hope! You don’t have the option, stop saying I’m here to laugh on stage you are not just a standup comedian anymore and you know it! You are now a defender of this cause and kids in Gaza have not surrendered and died don’t you dare do lay down and surrender! If it was only about power and money this earth wouldn’t be here today Bassem. لولا دفع الله الناس بعضهم ببعض لفسدت الارض.
But God sends people like you, like college students, like Mehdi, like PinkCode, like many others to fight evil. It sounds to me you are not a “realist”, you are just not a believer in God you are a believer in power (money that is). You have all the faith in power so you see all the zios power and truly believe they will win this.If you are truly a “realist”, and you look at realty from history of mankind, you would know that no tyranny abused power like this without crashing to an end. From Pharaoh to Hitler. Zionism will end. “Reality” tells you this. You are one of the people God “pushed” to defend this cause with what he has given you of sharp memory and satire skills, do your thing! Your words affect many people. Don’t be another bullet in Hind’s chest!
Even the best of us are allowed to be cynical sometimes. Bassem has been so courageous this last year. May Allah continue to bless him.
Your beautiful encouragement to Bassem reminded me of a poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, an African-American poet, writer and activist. Here is the poem read by Viola Davis: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5L-kKxePGqA
That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Having no hope for Gaza is a tiny subset of having no hope for humanity, and that’s where I am.
Me too. Humans are great, humanity sucks
Humans suck big time.
Should have said, most humans individually
Bassem, thank you for your detailed thoughts on this dystopian world we are in via media and algorithms. I’ve been witnessing it first hand and it is so very maddening.
Thank you Mehdi for creating this space. Keep doing what you do.
It is always great to see and listen to you both. Not that I needed to be even more desperate and depressed 😅 but it feels somehow good to know I am not alone. Although, would be nice to have such a bright people to give us some very positive news and point out the solutions or show us the light at the end of the tunnel (Mehdi, you tried hard to do that 🙏🏻 😉). The reality is so heavy. Thank you for not giving up, going to use your energy to get up and continue ✌️🍉
It’s soooo nice to see Bassem again on the show! We’ve missed you !
What Bassem said is chilling because it rings true. This level of control our leaders are exerting ensures those collage protesters will never be congress people, and that means this is a fight we lost a long time ago.
What is it called when you wake up in a nightmare?
I don't think we should ever stop fighting, but I don't see how we'll be able to change things before this genocide is fully carried out.
I believe that if we still have somewhat real elections (many progressives have won their seats of power Without a Single donation from any PAC, let along AIPAC) then it's still possible that a few of the protestors, the few who would desire to represent others in our strangely corrupt but sometimes not system, could be voted in. If we have learned anything this century, it's that we Don't know what can happen, in this ancient battle between the Oligarchs of inherited wealth and privilege, and the people. We the people are still empowered with a vote. I live in CA, so I can vote "uncommitted."
But if I lived in my hometown in PA, I'd have to vote for Harris.
Yes, It's looking very dark.
Trump surprised even the unholy ALEC members who engineer the RNC. But they ran with it. Southern Strategy on steroids. And the court was captured. And the regulations were destroyed.
So it's WOMEN with our allies in the LGBTQi community, and a sadly half-assed amount of cis but not resentful MEN, who will win this round. And then MAYBE the young people the women raised. Who in spite of all the silos, are largely bending the arc once again.
And then we have to find ways to heal. Like laughter.
also in Canada. To my horror, the Canadian medical and academic communities are entirely behind Israel.
The genocide against First Nations here in Canada has not ended, it is ongoing in the form of lack of clean drinking water, disproportionate incarceration and numbers of First Nations children in Foster Care and Missing and Murdered women, girls and two-spirited people, along with ongoing racism and discrimination. We like to pretend it is in the past, that we can simply pay lip service in the form of empty land acknowledgement without actually doing anything to fix these myriad problems.
I grew up on the border of the local tribe's reserve lands, and I credit the parents of my NA friends for giving me *many* examples of activism from pre-kindergarten onward. That was a real privilege, as was my own parents' encouragement. It's an ongoing problem here in the USA. I do find hope and encouragement in the examples of the now-adults I used to babysit long ago. One a tribal lawyer, another an excellent social worker, yet another a rehab/veteran's counselor, etc.
Yeah, it's still here. It's still ongoing.
Gaza has awakened the world like never before. We all know who the 😈 is. That is step 1 to solving the problem.