You and Me: Palestine and the American Poor
What does the oppression of Palestinians have to do with the rise of AI? What brings the marginalized of the American Empire together with the Palestinian movement?
In recognition of International Human Rights Day, the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign will be hosting ‘You & Me: Palestine & The American Poor’, a digital roundtable centered on the genocide in Gaza and the existential crises we face in America. The event will feature several voices working in the human rights space, including professor Ibrahim G. Aoudé, lawyer Judith Chomsky, and student organizers Wafai Dias and Nathaniel Thrush. Be sure to mark your calendars!
Ibrahim G. Aoude
Ibrahim (Brahim) G. Aoudé is Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa and the Editor of Arab Studies Quarterly, an international journal about the Arabs and their culture. His research and publications are in the areas of global geo-politics, the political economy of Hawai‘i, and the politics of West Asia and North Africa. Brahim was born in Palestine and his family took refuge in Lebanon after the establishment of the Zionist entity in Palestine in 1948. He is a frequent visitor to West Asia and North Africa and maintains almost daily contact with those regions.
Judith Chomsky is an International Human Rights lawyer. She started organizing in the 1950s against American segregation, organizing antiwar GIs and veterans during the Vietnam war, and became a lawyer in the late 70s. After founding the Juvenile Law Center and then advocating with workers organizing for more democratic labor unions, Judith was asked by the Center for Constitutional Rights to go to Gaza and the Occupied West Bank for a lawsuit involving civilian deaths from the Israeli occupation. Since then, she has had the honor of working with human rights workers in many parts of the world, whose work put them at great personal risk.
Wafai Dias is a Palestinian born and raised in Philadelphia with trips to Palestine and Jordan growing up. She's currently a graduate student at Temple University student studying social work to become a therapist one day. When she was an undergraduate student she was the President of Students for Justice in Palestine. Over the years she's remained involved in several different Palestinian and allied groups for justice.
Nathaniel is a student organizer based at Temple University. He organizes with Poor People’s Army doing writing, food distribution, and building for the 2024 Marches on the RNC & DNC. As an ashkenazi Jewish American, Nathaniel grew up immersed in a Zionist, pro-Israel environment, but through political education and outside relationships during his adolescence, he underwent a personal transformation and now identifies as an anti-Zionist.
