habibti please nashwa lina khan

This week Habibiti Please is focused on a favorite topic of the show: disarmament. Nashwa and Geneviève host Jeremy Corbyn and Paul Rogers in advance of Selling Death: Why the International Arms Trade Must be Controlled, an upcoming event hosted by Egypt Watch and Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project. Join Jeremy Corbyn, Paul Rogers, and Geneviève at the event on Saturday, July 17th, 2021, at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time and 4 p.m. London time here. 
We discuss the Peace and Justice Project, an initiative that works to bring people together for social and economic justice, peace, and human rights in Britain and across the world.
This episode explores the arms trade and why we must move towards disarmament. The international arms trade fuels forever wars, bloody occupations, and the military-industrial complex. The detritus of war and occupation will linger long after militaries leave the countries they ravage. As this episode highlights, COVID-19 serves as a canary in the coal mine; a warning for how things can only get worse if change does not happen now. A virus cannot be nuked, yet the rush to create and sell arms from the imperial core has continued without challenge even during the pandemic. 
The Corbyn Peace and Justice Project illustrates why domestic and international problems and injustices cannot be separated. We also explore how we build solidarity beyond borders and across communities. 
This episode also draws links between the arms trade, the climate crisis, and other ongoing struggles, including the growing number of refugees. Industrialists selling weapons and war promoters are akin to the mythical hydra, where chopping off one head sprouts another. This hydra is a monster, directly supported by Western governments. And blowback is to be expected. Continued death and destruction fuelled by the imperial core through tradecraft will have global consequences,
Forward-looking movements are needed now. Join Egypt Watch and Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project for Selling Death: Why the International Arms Trade Must be Controlled this Saturday on July 17th. We look forward to seeing you there. Now, more than ever, we must stand in solidarity to stop our governments from funding mass death throughout the world. 
Head over to thecorbynproject.com/armscontrol to sign up for Saturday’s event. 

Habibti Please is proud to be part of the Harbinger Media Network and we are grateful to partner with Canadian Dimension on this episode.
Organizations to check out: 
Egypt Watch 
Egypt Watch is a media services company based in London and was founded in 2019 by Osama Gaweesh, a well known Egyptian journalist and TV Presenter.
Their mission is to put Egypt under the international spotlight and to raise global awareness about the declining situation in Egypt; to advocate for freedom of press, for human rights, and for upholding democracy. 
Corbyn Peace and Justice Project 
An organization founded by longtime activist for social justice and former Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to bring people together for social and economic justice, peace, and human rights, in Britain and across the world.
The Event
Selling Death: Why the International Arms Trade Must be Controlled
War is big business. The international arms trade is worth hundreds of billions, and arms deals brokered by the rich and the powerful continue to extend human misery around the world. 
The UK is the world’s second-largest arms exporter in the world, fuelling conflicts like the war in Yemen which has claimed a quarter of a million lives to date. 
We must come together across borders and backgrounds to fight back against this economy of war and suffering, and demand real security for all. 
The Peace and Justice Project is proud to support Egypt Watch’s upcoming event: Selling Death: Why the International Arms Trade Must be Controlled, an international conference that aims to shed light on the horrific abuses of the arms trade, and help b

Two weeks ago hundreds of police officers and parapolice descended upon Trinity Bellwoods park in Toronto to violently evict the residents living there, displacing people from their homes and severing communities. Toronto has been cruel and brutal to the people living in this city. The austerity measures put in place using the pandemic as an excuse for imposing cruelty will not suddenly dissipate after the pandemic “ends.” It is important to note how the pandemic continues to ravage other places in the world. Many are under the illusion that it is near the end because of the inequitable global vaccine rollout and apartheid. While companies thrived, many have died. 
This episode was done in collaboration with the Encampment Support Network (ESN) in Toronto. We worked with Charlotte, an outreach volunteer with ESN. We discussed the evictions at Lamport Stadium that took place in May which involved a bulldozer to forcibly remove residents. 
Throughout the pandemic Encampment Support Network Toronto has provided help for people in encampment sites. Right now in the city, there is increasing pressure to re-open, and we must reckon with what reopening and “back to normal” means for those most disenfranchised. 
Public officials informed the “general public” to socially distance, while at the same time pushing unhoused people to live in crowded shelters and shelter hotels where the virus was spreading and killing. There are a number of obscene contradictions like this that reveal how people in power intentionally make others live in deplorable conditions to die.
The lives of unhoused people do not matter to Mayor John Tory and downtown City Councillor Joe Cressy. Although many have known this for far too long, it has again become blatantly obvious this week. Who we let live and who we let die speaks volumes about our society and cities. Depredation and violence by capitalists and the governments that back them were fully demonstrated viscerally throughout the pandemic and should not be surprising. The pandemic again brought this out revealing sores in the underbelly of Toronto brought about by austerity measures. Entire populations are subjected to death and disease by choice. 
Laid bare by the pandemic are the conditions which have always existed for those marginalized by the state. Capitalism is functioning as it should be, and the pandemic has only accelerated its efficiency. The proliferation of narratives by people like high-ranking public servant Brad Ross claiming the park was “dirty” continues to push the selective disposal of human beings. They want you to imagine that people who live in encampments are unclean but also disposable; not worthy of public space or full lives.  As Zoë Dodd posted, “people are not garbage.”
As Dodd and many others have pointed out these were people’s homes. 
Dodd also reminds us how violence is a spectacle and more specifically how words like “safety” are weaponized against those who are cash poor. Parks are public spaces and necessary. Parks are a space of life, however, the City appears to only want some to enjoy parks while others must be dispossessed of public space. 
As Alex V. Green reminds us, parks are a site and space for so much life. 
The violent clearing events at Trinity Bellwoods serve as a harbinger. Austerity and privatization are in full effect as the means with exterminism as the goal. It is reasonable to expect that the new austerity and security measures are here to stay “post” pandemic. The city attempted media rehabilitation after images of the full force of their violence turned public opinion against their immorality,  claiming there were public health issues and that people in the encampment were offered housing. This is false: only one individual was offered housing. It is important that we cut to the truth and do not cast doubt on the City of Toronto’s violence and injustice by their spin and narratives. 
This episode highlig

In this episode, Nashwa and Ryan sit down with Andrea Horwath, MPP for Hamilton-Centre and the Leader of the Official Opposition New Democrats. ** Please note this episode was recorded in mid-March** Nashwa and Ryan contextualize this episode with an extensive pre-show- if you do not want to listen to the pre-show please forward this episode to the interview that begins at around 26 minutes. 
In this interview Nashwa and Ryan wanted the audience to learn more about Andrea and the Ontario New Democrats. This episode focused on provincial issues such as the vaccine rollout. The rollout continues to be a disservice to Ontarians as many have witnessed egregious lines at pop-ups and people rely on a community-driven twitter feed for information about the vaccines. Ryan and Nashwa also ask about the Ontario NDP’s launch of the Green New Democratic Deal. 
Although this was recorded during phase two and we are now in phase three the rollout remains disjointed and inequitable. As a podcast project, we are constantly thinking about a world beyond electoral politics and hope for electoral politics with teeth that go beyond platitudes. This is why we asked about the Ontario NDP’s stance and their policy paper produced in the Summer of 2020. You can find the NDP policy paper referenced here: End Police Violence. Invest In Black, Indigenous And Racialized People’s Lives. An Ontario NDP Commitment To Action. 
Ryan wraps up by asking an evergreen question about the future of the Ontario NDP, how the base is being built, and how the provincial party plans to retain power. 
During the pre-show, Ryan and Nashwa discuss the current state of so many political issues throughout Ontario and why we want Ford out. While we vehemently recognize and acknowledge the limitations of electoral politics we hope this episode presents an alternative to the Ford Conservatives. 
Last week Doug Ford’s Conservatives rammed through Bill 307. For the entirety of the pandemic, there was no urgency for an adequate paid sick days plan, to stop COVID evictions, to roll out an accessible vaccination program, to redress long-standing issues throughout the Long-Term Care system, and so much more. The list of moments throughout this pandemic that were urgent for so many Ontarians and not prioritized by Ford Nation are quite obvious. 
At the same time, we are witnessing a burgeoning fascist movement in Ontario and throughout Canada. We have been experiencing a rising unchecked white supremacy grow in Canada, overlapping with the anti-mask conspiracy parades. We fear that as Canada “goes back to normal” hate crimes will inevitably increase (terminology that frankly requires its own reckoning and further complexity). 
This contingent, which was emboldened after Donald Trump’s election as well as the general acceptance of far-right hate speech in Canada's political discourse has been left entirely unaddressed. The Ford government is part of this. With cabinet members like Merrilee Fullerton and friendships with people like Charles McVety it is rather clear that this is a government that is friendly to bigotry. 
Bill 307 was rammed through last week after courts had deemed it unconstitutional because it unjustifiably violated Ontarians’ right to freedom of expression – in particular affecting this important right during elections. Instead of appealing the decision, the Ford government invoked s. 33 of the Charter: the Notwithstanding Clause. The legal rule is an emergency tool governments can use to override certain Charter rights, even after a court deems a law unconstitutional. This tool has never been used in Ontario because invoking the Notwithstanding Clause means that a policy is going to violate fundamental civil liberties. This shows just how far Ford will go to achieve his political goals.
Regardless of where you fall politically, even if you are beyond electoral politics, Ford’s time in office has been devastating for activists and orga

On the inaugural Harbinger Society Presents live recording it's an evening of history and hard questions on Canadian exceptionalism as Nashwa Khan and Shaadie Ali of Habibti Please and Deathnography's Henry Lee join host Andre Goulet for a conversation on Vincent Bevins' excellent 2020 book 'The Jakarta Method', Ottawa's Victims of Communism Memorial, how to fight for justice for Palestine and more. Please note this conversation was recorded on May 20th, 2021.
Plus: Atlantic correspondent James Brown makes a bold proposal for another kind of monument in our nation's capital.
Special thanks to Zaid Siddiqui for research on this episode.
You can support Harbinger Media Network here: 
https://harbingermedianetwork.com/
You can check out a premium teaser to Nashwa and Shaadie’s interview with Vincent Bevins here: https://habibtiplease.substack.com/p/jakartamethod
You can hear Henry Lee's conversation with Bevins on a recent episode of Deathnography at https://deathnography.libsyn.com/what-is-possible-realistic-dreams-and-the-myth-of-scarcity-ft-vincent-bevins-and-maya-menezes and support the show at https://www.patreon.com/deathnography
Support Palestinian Youth organizing at https://palestinianyouthmovement.com/donate
Islamic Relief is helping to provide immediate medical assistance and vital aid to all those affected by the violence and most in need at
https://www.islamicreliefcanada.org/emergencies/palestine/
Eye on Palestine is providing media coverage that mainstream news never will at
https://www.instagram.com/eye.on.palestine/
Find out more about the Movement to Safeguard Palestinian Communities and how to become part of the movement for peace at
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/icareaboutpeace/





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This week’s episode features a conversation Nashwa and Ryan had a few months ago with Member of Provincial Parliament Jessica Bell. This episode covers provincial politics. An arena where anti-Muslim sentiments have been stoked with Ford’s Conservatives in power. Although this episode does not address Islamophobia we do believe that we need to vote out the Ford government to fight back around rising white supremacy and fascism in this province. 
Nashwa and Ryan spoke to Jessica about the slow developments in building transit. Jessica’s previous work as the founding Executive Director of TTCriders fighting to improve Toronto Transit in part inspired her run. Habibti Please has previously spoken to TTCRiders you can find the episode here.
This episode also highlights the  Green New Democratic Deal (GNDD). The differential impacts of climate change and how the Ontario NDP will address them through just transition and a just transition for people in Northern Ontario whose homes and roads are dramatically impacted by climate change. 
The group also discusses tenant rights and what the Ontario NDP is doing regarding the egregious Covid eviction blitzes. It is important to note that MPP Bell is NDP critic of housing, tenant rights, and urban planning. Nashwa and Ryan have previously covered evictions and rennovictions in Toronto here and here and the lack of political will to move on these issues.
Mutual Aid & Community Support:
Although this episode is not paywalled we would deeply appreciate it if people would share or give (if able to do so) to any of the causes or groups listed below. 
This week has been and will continue to be hard for myself (Nashwa) and the team so I will keep this brief. I will try to better address the murder of multiple generations of the Afzaal family in London Ontario at another time but for now, I am trying my best to be there for my community and help organize. I have been asked to share this page for financial support of the 9-year-old son who was left orphaned and injured. 
I keep this podcast mostly free. I know my listeners are generous people who care about this world and so if you are able to give we urge you to give to the remaining member of the Afzal family, Faez Afzaal. From the team and I, Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un to multiple generations of the Afzaal family. We will keep you in our hearts and continue to fight for a world that does not paper over the vile settler colonialism and xenophobia that is the bedrock of what we know as Canada. 
Guest Information 
Guests of the Week: Member of Provincial Parliament Jessica Bell 
Jessica Bell, MPP for University-Rosedale, serves as the Ontario NDP critic of housing, tenant rights, and urban planning. Prior to being elected in June 2018 she served as the founding Executive Director of TTCriders fighting to improve Toronto Transit.
She’s been a lecturer at Ryerson University, director of the California Food & Justice Coalition and an advocate for environmental justice. She’s received several leadership awards, including Toronto Community Foundation’s Vital People Award.
Jessica lives in University-Rosedale with her husband and two children.
Find Jessica online on her website,twitter, and facebook.
Production Credits:
Hosted by Nashwa Lina Khan 
Show Music by Johnny Zapras and postXamerica
Art for Habibti Please by postXamerica
Production by Andre Goulet
Production Assistance by Ryan Deshpande and Nashwa Lina Khan
Social Media & Support:
Follow us on Twitter @habibtiplease
Support us on Patreon
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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit habibtiplease.substack.com/subscribe

The austerity measures that were first implemented during the pandemic will not ease post-pandemic. Global vaccine apartheid continues to exist and it seems that only those in North America with relations outside of North America or to communities. It feels eerily familiar for people who straddle worlds to be aware that “back to normal” means back to normal for people completely detached from the global reality of how COVID continues to ravage people outside of the imperial core. 
This episode takes a look at how the world we all now came to be. One where vaccine apartheid is normalized for so many. One where extermination programs and coups are staples. In this episode Shaadie and Nashwa interview Vincent Bevins, author of the Jakarta Method. Nashwa and Shaadie approached this episode with the thought and care they approach other work with. They wanted to honor those who died and survived the mass extermination in Indonesia while also weaving our own understanding as young Muslims of the world into this episode. 
Bevins book Jakarta Method is an accessible must-read about the United State's role in constructing a global anti-communist network. In 1965 and 1966, the Indonesian military killed one million civilians and with praise and enthusiasm from the American government. It was an apocalyptic slaughter of leftists and accused leftists. As Bevins writes, this series of events was instrumental in shaping our global economic system as it exists today. As beneficiaries of US hegemony,  it is important to recognize this gap in collective memory and the responsibilities we have. 
A selection of propaganda leaflets blaming the Indonesian Communist Party for the 30 September (1965) movement that appeared in late 1965. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
The Jakarta Method maps out and tracks the violent anti-communism campaign, subsequent mass arrests, executions, and American sponsored disinformation campaign that rendered deadly results we will always benefit from. For example, the mass murder of Indonesians is why the tourism industry in Bali possible. As Bevins illustrates, this massacre was one of the biggest turning points of the Cold War and it inspired other regions to carry out similar programs.  It is egregious and the replication of what happened in Indonesia should never be forgotten because it remains a blueprint for extermination programs globally. This episode features a number of resources that complement the conversation—please check them out below. 
From Vincent Bevins’ The Jakarta Method.
Habibti Please is proud to be part of the Harbinger Media Network. For episodes focused on different struggles in Canada and around the world, we are grateful to partner with Canadian Dimension for this episode. 
Until Liberation, 
Canadian Dimension, Shaadie, and Nashwa
To Read and Watch:
The Jakarta Method: How to destabilize and control the Third World by Clement Nocos 
How ‘Jakarta’ Became the Codeword for US-Backed Mass Killing by Vincent Bevins 
The Cold War’s unfinished legacy by Noah Tsika
The Act of Killing 
Joshua Oppenheimer on "The Act of Killing": The VICE Podcast 034
Tribunal 1965
Organizations we like this week: 
Anakbayan Toronto 
ANAKBAYAN is the largest and most comprehensive organization of Filipino youth and students for National Democracy, with 20,000 members worldwide. We strive for genuine freedom, peace, and democracy in the Philippines.
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change is building a democratic member-led organization of migrant farmworkers, care workers, students and more to win worker and immigration justice.
Guest Information 
Vincent Bevins is an American journalist and writer. He previously worked as a foreign correspondent based in Brazil for the Los Angeles Times, after working previously in London for the Financial Times. He then moved to Jakarta and began covering Southeast Asia for the Washington Post, and in 2018 began writing a b