The Left Unsaid

For this episode of The Left Unsaid, we sat down with Nora Lester Murad, a Jewish-American author, educator and activist who married a Palestinian Muslim and raised three daughters in the West Bank.Nora provides a clear-eyed view of the way in which organizations like the Anti-Defamation League misrepresent themselves as anti-bias or educational resources, weaponizing claims of antisemitism to push Zionist ideology and suppress Palestinian humanity.For 2 years, US policymakers have enabled genocidal violence in Gaza. For decades before that, they have supported occupation and apartheid in the West Bank and aggression elsewhere in the Middle East. Complicity in such slaughter is partly enabled by education that erases the humanity of Palestinians for our young people.You can join efforts such as “Drop the ADL from Schools” campaign and #DropTheADL.For more from Nora Lester Murad, we recommend checking out her collection of reflections on being a foreigner in Palestine, I Found Myself in Palestine, and award-winning young adult novel, Ida in the Middle. She can be found on Instagram at @nora_lester_murad or through her blog at www.NoraLesterMurad.com.As always, join our mailing list and find more episodes at TheLeftUnsaid.net

This week, we bring you an interview from a few months ago, when high-schooler Finn McElwee sat down with North Carolina State Senator Graig Meyer to talk about his decision to oppose "genocide" in Gaza. A former educator, Senator Meyer emphasizes the importance of allowing classroom discussion of genocide against Palestinians alongside study of the Holocaust and other great crimes of the powerful.He also provides thoughtful analysis about the danger presented by President Trump's weaponization of accusations of antisemitism.This interview, conducted in July, remains relevant as we hope the ceasefire will hold and the past 2 years of Israel's genocidal violence against Gazans will finally end.In addition, in this episode, Meg and Patrick analyze a New York Times article that previews the ways in which pro-Israeli propaganda will be aimed at Americans, at substantial risk to our now obviously-fragile democracy. Both legacy news media like CBS and social media like TikTok are likely to be subject to even greater censorship. The struggle for Palestinian humanity is tied up with our fight for democracy in the US.Links:NC State Senator Graig Meyer's op-ed: "Let's talk Gaza, antisemitism, and Trump's manipulation of it all", June 18, 2025, Cardinal & PineNew York Times article, " A Test Now for Israel: Can It Repair Its Ties to Americans?", by David M. Halbfinger on Oct. 12, 2025

This week, senior members of the Biden administration presented their defense before history, explaining or pointing fingers over their support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. In this episode, we pick that defense apart and compare it to earlier justifications of US imperial crimes.Read NPR’s article, sourced from a couple dozen senior Biden officials: “We Didn’t Do Enough”If we understand the failings of the establishment Democratic party, we empower ourselves to overcome them. And a rising crop of challengers aim to do just that, willing to name this moral collapse and oppose it.Plus, the enormous Global Sumud Flotilla, carrying aid to Gazans, gives us hope, even as US warships threaten Venezuela on the other side of the ocean.Come to theleftunsaid.net to sign up for our new mailing list.

This episode features part two of our conversation with Catholic Worker organizers Lenore Yarger and Steve Woolford, and their son Quinn. From their rural North Carolina home base, they’ve spent 20 years running the GI Rights Hotline, an anonymous lifeline for soldiers looking to get out, resist, or simply not follow illegal orders. Their hotline blew up when Trump ordered National Guard deployments to Los Angeles.What happens when the empire turns inward? What kinds of calls do they get from soldiers at the breaking point?We also learn some history of resistance to right-wing, anti-immigrant nativism in Siler City, a small North Carolina town.Links:GI RIGHTS HOTLINE: (877) 447-4487, girightshotline.orgA documentary recommendation from the Iraq War era: Sir, No Sir!Support the show at theleftunsaid.net, and help us keep bringing you the stories official history leaves out.

This week, the tide may finally be starting to turn against genocide. A majority of Democratic Senators voted with Bernie to cut off some weapons to Israel. Not enough, but a major step forward.Zohran Mamdani polls overwhelmingly ahead in the New York mayoral race, including among Jewish voters. Over in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn launched a new leftist party and immediately matched Labour’s membership. Turns out “don’t fund a genocide” is a winning platform.But apparently, it's still a tough sell for some in Congress. And ambitious centrists seem to think they can run without strong moral opposition to forced starvation. From Roy Cooper's Senate ambitions here in North Carolina to Kamala’s resurrection tour, the "moderates" are scrambling to catch the cultural tide without getting too wet.Then, we turn to something radical in a whole other way. Patrick, Meg, and Finn are joined by friends and Catholic Worker organizers Lenore Yarger, Steve Woolford, and their son Quinn. They talk about anarchist Catholic hospitality, voluntary poverty, and raising kids while forging an alternative to the dominant US family culture.Part two of that conversation, on military resistance and Steve and Lenore's work with the GI Rights Hotline, is coming soon.ALSO IN THIS EPISODE:The rise of Zohran social media clones with none of his substanceThe European hornets that attacked PatrickLINKS:Join The Left Unsaid newsletter⁠⁠The Labour Files, a docuseries on Corbyn and the Labour PartyZeteo's parody of centrists copying ZohranAnd Liam Elkind's real-life campaign video parroting Zohran's style without the substance.

After a brief hiatus due to vacation, COVID superspreading, and a flood event here in Chapel Hill, we’re back with our very first interview. This week, we talk with our cousin Chiara Kimelia, Dartmouth student and freshly minted canvassing superhero, who hit the pavement for Zohran Mamdani’s historic, come-from-the-left win in NYC’s mayoral primary.We explore the generational and community politics motivating voters to support Zohran, and how a campaign built on affordability and human dignity can beat Cuomo with a war chest. Plus, Chiara shares what it was like watching U.S. imperialism from abroad, as she backpacked alone for a year after high school, then landed back on at Dartmouth, a university that called the cops on its own community.Also in this episode:​Medicaid got gutted.​ICE is set to become the largest police force in U.S. history.​Trump threatens to “take over” NYC.​Israel explicitly plans to set up concentration camps.​And we get rare good news from the North Carolina Democratic Party.LINKS:​Ryan Wang has some great shorts on the NC Dem Party’s resolutions for a People’s Primary + Israel arms embargo. Part 1: about the resolutions. Part 2: how they pulled it off. Part 3: what it all means.​Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa, a wonderful piece of Palestinian fiction.​Deaf President Now documentary. (Now streaming on Apple TV.)Please subscribe, rate, review, and tell a friend.

This week, Trump launched a full-throttle, unprovoked strike on Iran, violating U.S. law, international law, and any shred of moral credibility.The oligarchy is flexing its muscles, but we can flex back.We examine the opposition to this war, a populist opposition that covers the spectrum from MAGA to Bernie and the left.CNN, Fox and other mainstream outlets start to manufacture consent, but we've got tools to fight back.TAKE ACTION. CAIR has an easy set of action alerts that make it easy to contact your Representative and your Senators.We remind ourselves how to innoculate our minds against manufactured consent to war, dissect the liberal feminist Trojan horse arguments for “liberation by airstrike,” and remind folks that this exact imperial playbook led us into Iraq.Also this week:Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil is finally out on bail after ICE disappeared him for leading campus protests.The Senate Parliamentarian tells Republicans that they can't cut food stamp cuts.The Democrats once again show they hate nothing more than a charismatic leftist by throwing everything they've got against Zohran Mamdani. (Go VOTE if you're a New Yorker!)Subscribe, rate, and share with your friends. Visit us at TheLeftUnsaid.net to follow the action.LinksWatch "The Encampments" on Watermelon+ Recommended read: “Crimes of the Century: How Israel, with the help of the U.S., broke not only Gaza but the foundations of humanitarian law." by Suzy Hansen in New York Magazine.⁠Ask your Representative to oppose war.⁠ And ⁠your Senators⁠ too.

This week on The Left Unsaid, we skip the burgers and throw something juicier on the grill: the imperial myth machine. It’s a Father’s Day edition, so naturally we’re spending it exactly how Dad likes—tearing into bipartisan war propaganda and the elite penchant for fascist-adjacent pageantry.Finn and Patrick debrief from their trip to DC where The Left Unsaid crew filmed CodePink giving Congress hell and glimpsed Trump’s weak military cosplay. We then returned home to experience the odd pageantry of surburban liberal resistance at our local “No Kings” protest, with its awkward fusion of patriotic aesthetics and moral outrage.Also: the history and latest stage of Israel’s illegal war on Iran, praised as “stunning” by the mainstream media. the long history of Israeli fear-mongering about Iranian nukes (Bibi still crying wolf after 33 years). the West’s grotesque double standards.why the Democrats remain stuck in their usual position: verbally “concerned” while materially complicit.plus the rapid rise of Zohran Mamdani’s insurgent NYC mayoral campaign.This Father's Day, we'll recommmend 2 books:From Zohran's dad, the seminal Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, and Sim Kern’s Genocide Bad, about Israeli propaganda and how to answer it.Sign up to stay in touch at TheLeftUnsaid.net

This week, we keep it a little shorter, since Finn, Patrick and Meg are deep in work on a documentary about Gaza solidarity in the high schools.On the podcast, we cover: AI and the Big Dumb Bill. The House passed a monster benefits-cut bill. Half of them didn’t even read it. it is bad in almost every way, EXCEPT, it finally kicked off the divorce between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. We discuss the latest insults flying between them.ICE in LA. Trump is sending the military and the National Guard to break up sanctuary cities. Protesters fight back. A union leader gets hospitalized. Tiananmen Square, but worse, as a protestor is run down by an ICE van⁠. (disturbing)Travel Ban Redux. Trump revives the Muslim ban idea and ends protections for hundreds of thousands. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Since we recorded, Israel has boarded the ship and detained and deported its activists. Greta was on board, our hero. Read their latest updates here.Mexico Elects Its Judges, So Naturally It’s a “Dictatorship” Now. The Western press flips out over a democratic reform that is overcoming judicial corruption.Dockworkers vs. Empire. French unions block weapons shipments to Israel.Mamdani Rising. NYC’s most charismatic DSA candidate wrecks Cuomo at the debate. He’s surging in the polls and he already raised enough money, so he's just asking for your time now. See the fun debate where everyone beats up on Andrew Cuomo.Support the show:TheLeftUnsaid.net – Join the mailing list and subscribe wherever you listen.

This week, The Left Unsaid bursts out of the living room and into the headlines. Literally. Our youngest co-host and resident teenage rabble-rouser, Finn, organized a Walkout for Palestine at Chapel Hill High School and made the front page of the local paper. We bring you the exclusive on how it all went down. You'll be impressed by these students.But first:the grotesque theater of the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" (aka deadly military-industrial photo op).The ongoing hostage negotiations between Israel and HamasThe inconvenient truth that Hamas wants out of governing GazaIran, uranium enrichment, and the looming shadow of another forever warIsrael's documented use of Palestinians as human shieldsThis one’s for the kids. And for hoping that the grown-ups finally decide to grow up.Links:IndyWeek Article on the WalkoutCheck out this reel featuring Finn's Walkout.Contact us or get involved: [email protected] to Action:Thumbs up the episode.Leave a review.Organize a walkout.Sign up for our mailing list at TheLeftUnsaid.net.If you're in Chapel Hill/Carrboro and want to support students, help us keep the school board honest, or connect with like-minded parents, send us a message. We’re building a local crew. Boots on the ground. Eyes wide open.