On A People's Climate: “If you want to support Palestine, get free.”
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In this episode of A People’s Climate, host Shilpi Chhotray sits down with Vivien Sansour, founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, for a powerful conversation about resistance in the face of Israeli militarism, occupation, and ecological devastation.
For two years, the world watched Israel’s genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing campaign across Palestine — including the annihilation of Palestinian land, contamination of water, and the carbon-intensive bombardment that has choked the air and scorched the soil. Entire food systems have been erased. And yet, so many environmentalists remain silent. Vivien makes it clear that climate conversations cannot be separated from Western imperialism and genocide.
From saving heirloom seeds to ancestral farming practices, Vivien shares how Palestinian farmers and land stewards are not only protecting the environment but also preserving culture, memory, and survival itself.
Key Themes & Topics:
Resources
Palestinian Land, Heritage, and Identity – Shilpi Chhotray in conversation with Rania Batrice
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In this episode of A People’s Climate, host Shilpi Chhotray sits down with Vivien Sansour, founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, for a powerful conversation about resistance in the face of Israeli militarism, occupation, and ecological devastation.
For two years, the world watched Israel’s genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing campaign across Palestine—including the annihilation of Palestinian land, the contamination of Palestinian water, and the carbon-intensive bombardment that has choked the air and scorched the soil. Entire food systems have been erased. And yet, so many environmentalists remain silent. Vivien makes it clear that climate conversations cannot be separated from Western imperialism and genocide.
From saving heirloom seeds to ancestral farming practices, Vivien shares how Palestinian farmers and land stewards are not only protecting the environment but also preserving culture, memory, and survival itself. Resources
Palestinian Land, Heritage, and Identity – Shilpi Chhotray in conversation with Rania Batrice
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Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
"The insanity of the settler colonial mindset has no limit."
Genocide is not only the destruction of human life. It is also the destruction of land, water, food systems, and ecosystems that make life possible.
In Palestine, the devastation of agricultural lands, the poisoning and destruction of water systems, and the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of olive trees are part of a broader campaign to erase Palestinian life, culture, and connection to the land.
This is the environmental Nakba: the ecological destruction woven into more than a century of settler colonialism that continues to unfold today.
On this episode of A People’s Climate, Shilpi Chhotray speaks with Dr. Hatem Bazian, Palestinian-American scholar, organizer, and professor at UC Berkeley. They discuss how environmental destruction functions as a weapon of genocide and colonial control. From the destruction of Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure to attacks on beehives, they examine how the destruction of the natural world makes Palestinian life increasingly unlivable.
They also explore the architecture of occupation: how border walls, checkpoints, settlements, and segregated infrastructure divide land, restrict movement, and engineer two radically unequal worlds for the colonizer and the colonized.
Palestine is not somewhere “over there.” As Bazian puts it, “In every city in America, there’s a Palestine.” He points to collapsing schools, a healthcare system that leaves people to die, and endless wars waged to sell weapons. The same corporate and political systems shaping life in Palestine are also reshaping life in the U.S.
But Bazian argues that colonialism is fundamentally unsustainable and is clear about what that means for Palestine. “Palestine will be free sooner than later.”
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Credits
Presented by Counterstream Media and The Nation
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Host: Shilpi Chhotray
Executive Producer: Mindy Ramaker
Engineer: Dennis Maxwell
Project Manager: Asia Simms
Dr. Hatem Bazian
Dr. Hatem Bazian is a teaching professor at UC Berkeley and a leading decolonial scholar whose work centers Islam's epistemology and Global South analysis. He founded the Islamophobia Studies Center, serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Islamophobia Studies Journal and President of the International Islamophobia Studies and Research Association. He co-founded Zaytuna College and American Muslims for Palestine, and serves as President of the Northern California Islamic Council and Chairman of the Muslim Legal Fund for America.
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Shilpi ChhotrayShilpi Chhotray is the host of A People’s Climate, a new podcast from Counterstream Media and The Nation. New episodes every Saturday, starting September 27.