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Delete Your Account Podcast

Delete Your Account is a new podcast hosted by journalist Roqayah Chamseddine and her plucky sidekick Kumars Salehi. Every week they will talk about important stories from the worlds of politics and pop culture, both on and off-line, in a way that will never bore you.
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Now displaying: May, 2019
May 23, 2019

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Ariel Gold and Lily Tajjadini. Ariel serves as the national co-director of the anti-war group CODEPINK, and is an organizer with the Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine. Ariel has been published in The Huffington Post, Forward, and Tikkun Magazine, among others. Lily is also an organizer with CODEPINK where she is the Iran Campaign manager. Ariel and Lily, who were recently involved in the historic occupation of the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C., describe the events that lead up to this dramatic action and what hurdles they encountered from local authorities, the Secret Service, and a barrage of protesters loyal to self-appointed president Juan Guaidó.

Ariel and Lily recount the creative efforts on the part of the embassy activists, who called themselves as the Embassy Protection Collective, to get food and supplies into the embassy where as many as 50 demonstrators were inside, having been invited to stay by the legitimate government of Venezuela led by Nicolás Maduro. We hear about hostile clashes during which pro-Guaidó protestors, who had barricaded the exterior of embassy, attempted to intimidate embassy volunteers and prevent access to first aid, medicine, and food.

We discuss the fate of activists who were arrested by authorities after the embassy was illegally raided after an incredible 36 days. Ariel and Lily explain that activists haven’t been charged with trespassing, an admission that the embassy was Venezuelan territory. Additionally, representatives of Guaidó’s self-described “government” still haven’t gained access to the site, further proof of the shaky footing the US government knows itself to be on. Finally, Ariel and Lily explain that, far from a symbolic act, this effort had a real impact on ratcheting down tensions and making a US military attack on Venezuela less likely.

You can follow Ariel on twitter at @ArielElyseGold, and Lily at @lilytaj5. You can also find Code Pink as at @codepink.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

May 15, 2019
Today we’re joined by Outreach Organizer Leoyla Cowboy and Executive Director Carl Williams of the Water Protector Legal Collective. The Water Protector Legal Collective was formed in 2016 in response to the need to provide legal support for activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.
 
Leoyla recounts her own personal experiences at Standing Rock, including meeting her husband Michael "Little Feather" Giron. Little Feather is currently in Federal prison, having been charged alongside six other indigenous water protectors, for resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline. We hear about the work that WPLC has done and continues to do for these activists as well as hundreds of others who faced state charges, as well as indigenous activists engaged in other fights for sovereignty. Carl discusses the limits of the US legal system for providing justice to indigenous people especially, and the difficulties movement lawyers face in a system that is set up against those they serve.
 
Leoyla and Carl also talk about a May 9 hearing of the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights addressing the “Suppression of Indigenous Resistance to Extractive Industries in North America”, a hearing called for by WPLC. Leoyla talks about her experience testifying at the hearing, and Carl describes how the hearing, while unlikely to lead to any dramatic changes, is helping to build connections between indigenous groups and allies across the Americas and bring attention to their common struggles.
 
Follow the WPLC on twitter at @WaterProtectUs, on facebook, and at their website. If you want other ways to support #NoDAPL political prisoners, you can find more info here. Follow Carl on twitter at @carltonwilliams.
 
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!
May 8, 2019

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Donald Borenstein, a writer, journalist, and filmmaker who's been covering the Stop & Shop supermarket strike for the worker-owned streaming platform Means TV. Donald, who made the 500 mile journey across New England in order to document the 11-day strike, describes what lead approximately 31,000 workers, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers, to picket Stop & Shop locations in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Donald explains the tactics workers utilized to pressure management into conceding and to prevent anyone from crossing picket lines.

Donald goes on to describes the impact of appearances by Democratic presidential candidates at picket lines—including Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren—who spoke in support of striking workers. We try to separate the tepid lip service from some candidates from what might be better faith outreach of others. The crew also examines what the success of the Stop & Shop strike means for private sector unions, specifically in the grocery sector.

You can follow Donald on Twitter @Boringstein, and keep up with their Stop & Shop strike coverage on Means TV.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

May 2, 2019

This week Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Joshua Badge, writer and lecturer in philosophy at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. Joshua joins us for an in-depth discussion of the philosophy and practices of animal rights and veganism.

Joshua explains the sociological framework of what we consume and the significance of food on our communities and our identities. Joshua leans into his philosophy background and explains the metaphysical traditions that are often overlooked when discussing animal rights—from the way in which we empathize with animals to the often highly charged language that vegans employ to characterize the abuses that animals face. We discuss how poverty impacts our relationship with food and Joshua, who is an avid cook, underlines the importance of increasing the affordability and accessibility of vegan food by pushing for broad systemic changes to our food supply.

Joshua also gives readers the background on recent publicity for the animal rights movement in Australia, and how tactics that are often employed in an attempt to undermine the meat industry can backfire in certain contexts, inflaming race and class tensions.

Follow Joshua on Twitter @JoshuaBadge.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

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