Sports As A Weapon Podcast
Sports As A Weapon Podcast
43 | Free Palestine!
Miguel talks with freelance journalist and comrade Abraham Marquez. They discuss using pro-sports for Zionist propaganda. We also discuss our overall feelings and thoughts on Israel committing war crimes against the Palestinian people. Free Palestine!
You can follow Abraham on X/Twitter @abemarquez3 and read some of his work here.
Note: The links below include examples of Zionist propaganda in pro-sports and examples of athletes/sportswriters/fans supporting Palestine.
Links:
NFL’s condemnation of Hamas terrorism is important in fight against hate (Yahoo Sports)
The NFL Prays for Israel and Ignores Palestine (The Nation/Dave Zirin)
Israel-Palestine war: US sports stars ignore Palestinians in pro-Israel posts, face fan backlash (Middle East Eye/ Zainab Iqbal)
Arsenal Supporters Pro-Palestine Official Statement (Twitter/X)
Gaza Fights for Freedom (Film by Abby Martin)
Ian Kinsler threw out the first pitch tonight in a Team Israel jersey (@MLBONFOX)
Jewish Major Leaguers come together against antisemitism and to show their support of Israel (@ILBaseball)
Champion Abdel Rahman Sameh refuses to celebrate the gold medal at the World Cup in Swimming and reveals that he has been subjected to threats because of his support (Video/@RassdNewsN)
Liverpool FC’s Mo Salah speaks in support for Palestine (Video/@MoSalah)
Miguel Garcia produced this episode. The Sports As A Weapon Podcast is part of the @Anticonquista Media Collective. Subscribe to the ANTICONQUISTA Patreon and follow ANTICONQUISTA on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Tik Tok!
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Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the sports as a weapon podcast. Hey, Chicano Chicana sports podcast on the entanglement of sports, radical politics, and working class sports fan culture. And don't worry. We talk just sports too. it's been a while since we've done an episode, but we had to do this episode. excited for the guests I'm having on today. We will be talking about what's happening, um, in occupied Palestine. Between the Zionist Israel, uh, you know, Zionist Israel, the state of Israel and the pretty much the live genocide we are seeing right now taking place against the Palestinian people, but we're going to kind of talk about how sports is being used. As for Zionist propaganda to push their narrative. We'll also talk about sports athletes that are being pro Palestine. So we'll talk about that too. if you don't know, we're the sports as a weapon podcast. We are part of the Anticonquista Media Collective Network. Anticonquista is an anti imperialist media collective. Our content is produced by and for the Latin American and Caribbean diaspora. We are dedicated to exposing and fighting the capitalist imperialist system, the root cause of our displacement. Subscribe to the Anticonquista Patreon at Patreon backslash Anticonquista and follow Anticonquista on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, be sure to listen. Subscribe to The Sports as a Weapon podcast on Spotify, apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get, you get your podcasts. And so today, my guess is Abraham Marquez Marquez. He is a freelance writer from Inglewood, California, and a National Association of Hispanic Journalists member. He is a 2021 USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism fellow. He's reported from Tijuana, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras. And writes about social movements, immigration, politics, and sports. So welcome to the podcast, Abraham. Glad to finally have you on the podcast.
Abraham:Thank you, man. Thank you. I've been following you for a while. So it's a, it's a pleasure and an honor to be on your show.
Miguel:Yeah, man. Glad to have you. So go ahead. I know we talked about this beforehand. You want to do a little statement?
Abraham:Yeah. So you and I connected over the. the recent events, October 7th that happened with the uprising and, the palaces and Palestinian resistance into, uh, Tel Aviv and, uh, the aftermath in the sports world. We saw, you know, LeBron James, MLS teams, baseball teams come out with statements and honoring and support of Israel. and I'm sure, you know, probably went through the same. Thought process like you did of understanding the history of Palestine. So for the past week, you know, I've asked myself, have we ever seen anything, something as desperate and inhumane as we've been seeing right now play out in Gaza? And I draw the question, is this genocidal violence? Because it has all the necessary ingredients in place for the genocidal concoction. One, we have a misinformation, right? They're telling us about the 40 beheaded babies. Uh, they're telling us that this is Jewish versus Muslims, that this is Israel versus Hamas. In reality, this is the right of an indigenous people to exist. This is Palestine versus an illegal occupation, and that is Israel. Two, there's a big starving campaign, right? They're denying them the basic needs to survive, with water, medicine, food, energy, and so on. And the third thing that I thought about was the relentless bombing of trapped civilians. Before the recent bombing by the IDF in the last week, if folks were not aware already, Gaza was already under genocidal blockade. It was already difficult for them to access basic needs, yet alone travel through their own country. The bombing campaign has destroyed the infrastructure which makes it harder for medics and people to get to those that are in need. Israel has amassed over 300, 000 soldiers as the initial ground force to invade Gaza after the four days of systemic bombing and incineration of an entire neighborhood. It was reported that 30 families were wiped out. Now, think about it. 30 families. And we're not talking about 30 individual families or 30 homes. We're talking about 30 bloodlines that have been wiped out. This is the goal of the occupation. It is genocide. This is not our, and calling Israel a colonizer and calling it this is a genocide, this is not our opinion. This is actually what Israel has stated themselves as colonizers. that was the founding of the ideology. And then we have one side that is fully blockaded with no humanitarian assistance, the people of Palestine. Israel enjoys a carte blanche of military support from the U. S. The UK which are the strongest military powers on earth. They're sending warships instead of humanitarian aid to ensure that no one outside, no other power outside, specifically Iran and Hezbollah can come to their aid. And by doing so, they're threatening for a regional war. And just think about the region, right? we have bombed and invaded Afghanistan, Iraq multiple times. We're illegally occupying Syria, and we had bombed Pakistan through drone warfare. And not to mention the sanctions that we're placing on Iran that has killed thousands of people. What problems are the people of that region are going to be facing in the future? The psychological problems, the physical health, what type of life will they live? What type of future will they have? And just let that sit in. All because of what? And because of who? The United States. And I only bring this up because prior to October 7, none of these athletes, none of these teams ever showed out or said anything in solidarity with the people in the region at all. And now they, they, they see that what, what, what occupation does, they want to come out and support Israel. So yeah, thank you for letting me say that.
Miguel:Hey man, thank you for, uh, Saying that on the podcast, and that was a great statement. And you touched on all, all the points I would like to make. And that way you made, you made a good statement. yeah, it's, we're all watch, like we said, we're here, we're watching. You can't deny that there's a genocide going on right now. we have social media, you know, this isn't like decades ago, this technology didn't exist we have social media, everyone has videos. There's telegram. There's all these. There's all these sources besides, you know, the legacy, corporate mainstream media, um, that people watch on television, you know, you don't got to watch that there's other sources and the facts are there and we're watching it in real time. Israel's committing genocide. You know, they've been occupying Palestine for 75 years and the process to even occupy started even before that. Um, Zionism was like an ideology from the 19th century, political ideology. And then right now, yeah, just like you, this is why we decided to do this episode. We're big sports fans ourselves. Um, so we're always paying attention to sports and we see all these statements, all these teams and athletes. I want to point out mostly, all, US teams, but also like European teams, like English Premier League; but, I don't have the statement in front of me, but my, the Miami heat did a statement. And that one was very, like a, that was one of the more obvious, like, where with Israel, like a lot of the statements were almost all the same, like it kind of made it seem like they're like a coordinated campaign, right? Yeah. Um, but that one was extra disgusting. If people want to check that one out. And I wasn't surprised by it because if people don't know the owner of the Miami Heat, he's a Israeli, he's Israeli American. Mickey, uh, Arison, I think.
Abraham:Oh, I didn't know that.
Miguel:That's his name. Yeah. And so like, he's always supporting, supporting like Israeli pro Zionists, like stuff, right? So that's why I was, I wasn't shocked. Like I wasn't shocked by all these teams, but like that one, when that one came out, I was like, Oh, of course. Cause I knew about the owner. And then I saw the Dodgers statement.
Abraham:Oh man.
Miguel:Uh, man, that, that one was, that one obviously made me mad because I'm a Dodger fan.
Abraham:and it's like, like you said, it was, it just seemed too coordinated. It was just like all at the same time. And, but one of the things that, that really like bogs the mind is, is the outrage over a headline that said that 40 babies were decapitated, right? And that was later on proven that it's not true. As of this morning, I haven't checked. since the morning, I woke up early to get ready for this, but, the death toll as of this morning, it was 2, 950.
Miguel:Yeah, I think it's over 3000 now.
Abraham:And that included 1030 children. Right?. But there's no outrage for those children. Right? There was a big outrage for the fake headlines, but the reality of Palestinians dying every day and have been for the last 75 years. It's okay to them. They're not going to question it. They're not going to come out and support. Me personally, I think that if the movement keeps getting bigger and bigger, it's going to change the dynamics of it.
Miguel:Yeah, I agree. cause I've noticed a lot more people being pro Palestine than before. And I'm talking about not just people that would pay attention that might be political, like us, you know, other comrades that I expect it from, but like people, I didn't expect you know, people that might not be very political, don't have an understanding about global geopolitical politics, or even just in the US because, you know, obviously we live in the US it's the most propagandized like society. Right. And so. That was surprising. I think I saw some, you know, polls aren't all like science, I saw some polls were like, it seemed like there was more support for Palestine too.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:Then I seen other ones where people are like, Oh, we support Israel defending itself. I don't know. It feels different with how bad things are happening in terms of like the solidarity.
Abraham:Yeah. I feel like because we're in 2023 and just thinking about the last few years, how, you know, 2020 was a big upsurge, right? About a quarter of the, of the country protested a lot of them for the first time, right? Of 37 million people shows that there is potential for revolutionary change in this country. Right? And then now in 2023, seeing how many people are taking the streets in every major city for Palestine lets you know that it is changing, right? We can potentially stop this. now, what I was going to get to is, I feel like a lot of people, especially the liberal crowd, their politics collapses at the door of Palestine. Because they, you know, the liberals are like, well, you know, violence is not the answer. Okay? How did we get to this situation? Like the Palestinians are like, hey, come in. Take our land. No, it was violently taken away from them, right? And so their, their beliefs and, and what they want to push it collapses. One of the challenges that I was, I would say is also just fighting the, the media campaign, right? That this is Hamas versus, especially I've been reading, I think I've read more of the New York Times and LA times and CNN in the last week, more than I've had in the last year or so; And so many articles of like, you know, this is who Hamas is, you know, all about Hamas, Hamas this, Hamas that, and this is not a Hamas, and you and I know this is not Hamas, this is Israel. This is Palestine versus Israel. This is the fight of an indigenous people to have their rights and get their land back and people don't see that. Even though you show them the evidence and the proof. Of the declaration and how they actually had, like, that's their ideology. it's really mind boggling how some people still have like, well, you know, try to push that, that two sides, right? There's two sides.
Miguel:Yeah. It's pretty much all lives matter. The liberal version.
Abraham:Yup. Yup. Completely.
Miguel:All lives matter, I guess also was liberal version, but. I feel like more liberals were able to like, see the difference between all lives matter and black lives matter. whereas compared to this with their both sides,
Abraham:it's just mind boggling how I've, I've had, uh, you know, in the last few days, been reaching out to folks and trying to, you know, Hey, if you have questions, let me know, you know, different group chats and different family members and friends and just to. cause I would want, I would love to talk to people about this, you know, it's the media tells it, Oh, it's complicated. They've been, they've always been fighting. It's an answer. You know, it's not, it's not complicated. I know when I got into politics, I thought the same way I was like, ah, man, I don't know. The Middle East is kind of complicated and it wasn't until, you know, thankfully I had older comrades. They're like, no man, it's not. And they sat down with me, read through books, read through articles, watch documentaries. and that helped me to just be like, Oh man. Damn, the media really does have a chokehold on people to like, not want to explore our history.
Miguel:Yeah. And I'm speaking about that type of stuff. I remember, um, I'll be 38 soon, like in a month. but I remember in the 90s, seeing the news, you know, they've been occupying, Israel's been occupying Palestine for 75 years. So I remember in the 90s, watching the news, and the way... They would paint the Palestinians versus Israel, you know, obviously I'm a little kid, So I thought Israel was the good guys, you know, like, I remember, I remember that and thinking that just because of the way I would watch the news and what they show you. Right? And then obviously I get older, I get more political, get radical, and then you, you learn about it and you learn the truth. And you're like. They made me think about that, like, Oh, I remember back then when I would just watch the TV and I had no idea I'm just some kid and watching the news and, you know, cause this conflict's been going on for so long because they've been occupying it for pretty much almost, almost a century. We're almost there. It's like three quarters of a century. Like, yeah, but I remember the, just remember that now it's just a trip. How I, obviously I know now, but still seeing people not know about the truth. And in some ways you can't really blame them because of how propagandized everyone is, here in the United States and it's crazy. Like I used to, just like you're saying, well, it's complicated or we don't like once you learn, no, it isn't. And it's not complicated. Once you learn the history, it's the same thing. All of us growing up, like when he grew up in the U S. And he'd go through like elementary and like, they teach you about the settlers and how they came to the, you know, took the land, but they made it seem like, Oh, the native Americans just gave it to them. Like, there was no resistance. They had Thanksgiving, like,
Abraham:yeah, there was no resistance. It was just like, they just, they coexisted and they gave it to them. Yeah, it's just, it's just, it's the same, the same colonial propaganda centuries later and people are just eating it up. and that's kind of the unfortunate part, but, I don't know if you've seen the, the documentary Gaza fights for freedom.
Miguel:Oh yeah. The one by Abby Martin.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:Yep.
Abraham:Yeah. I, I've been sending it and I recommend it to people to watch it because it's, it's a really, you know, it debunks all the myths of the human shield that we hear about, you know, the right to protest and, and yeah, I just wanted to throw that in there because that's definitely a documentary that, you know, and it's made by, You know, they're getting the film from folks on the ground.
Miguel:Mm hmm.
Abraham:On the ground.
Miguel:People on their team, on the team to make the film are all like Palestinian. Yeah. From the Middle East.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:I know some of our listeners probably watched it, but I know some people haven't. So yeah, highly recommend watching that documentary. I think it's still on YouTube. it's on the Empire Files YouTube page, I believe.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:Gaza Fights For Freedom. I'll post the link to that documentary on the show notes for people, but that, that one's a good source for people that wanna learn more about what's going on. It's a really good one. so yeah, I'm going to read I wasn't shocked by this statement, but it still pissed me off. this is a, the statement LeBron James made, are you a Laker fan?
Abraham:Yeah. I tell my friends, uh, I'm not a fanatic. Um, I love the sport, so yeah, even if they lose, man, if it's a good game, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be happy, you know,
Miguel:I'm a Laker fan. So this one, this one pissed me off more.
Abraham:But it's, it's LeBron, man. I don't know if you've seen the memes that he got trolled on.
Miguel:They're true of him. Well, yeah. Cause I remember when he was posting that, that he was reading the book, the autobiography of Malcolm X, and he's all has that photo of him reading the book.
Abraham:Did you remember the interview?
Miguel:No, I don't remember the interview though.
Abraham:I'll send it to you. I think I have it somewhere, but, uh, one of the. He was in, uh,
Miguel:when they were asking him about it, press conference.
Abraham:Yeah. What do you think about the book? And then he's like, Oh yeah, I just started reading it. And he's just like, anyone who's read that book knows that you can, you can articulate a lot.
Miguel:Yeah, man. I learned a lot reading them and you can just watch them. You could just watch the movie and learn a lot. You could just watch the movie Denzel Washington.
Abraham:Exactly. Couldn't even mustard anything. That was just more like more than just like, he had great things to say. And it was like, all right, man, cool.
Miguel:well, now we know he really didn't read.
Abraham:Yeah, for sure. For sure. But, uh, I mean, I still like that. He, you know, part of me, it was like, well, at least now Lakers fans whenever you throw Malcolm X in the conversation, I'm gonna be for it. You know, it gives you an opportunity to talk about, um, but with that statement, it's like, ah, yeah, he definitely didn't get past the first page.
Miguel:Nah he didn't, cause if you read that LeBron, you would know you will not support Israel and what's happening right now. Malcolm X is looking, is pretty pissed off at you, right now
Abraham:he's turning in his grave. Like, Oh man,
Miguel:Shaking his fists, but I'm going to read that statement for people that didn't read it or hear it just because I wanted to point it out just because I'm a Laker fan. This really pissed me off, even though I wasn't surprised. Very liberal, very liberal statement; but this is the statement quote,"The devastation in Israel is tragic and unacceptable. The murder and violence against innocent people by Hamas is terrorism. The Spring Hill Company. Family sends our deepest condolences to Israel and the Jewish community. We pray for peace in the region and reiterate our continued commitment to fight hate in all its forms. We all must work to ensure the tragedy, this tragedy does not spread even more hate, racism, and antisemitism." End of quote. That one. I'm like, LeBron, now we know the truth. He didn't read it, man.
Abraham:Yeah. You hate violence.
Miguel:That's a bad statement.
Abraham:Yeah. But just,
Miguel:we condemn all violence, but, uh, I'm only showing support here for Israel, even though they're occupied a country for 75 years and put their people in like an open air prison. Oh, man.
Abraham:And I think a part of me, I was thinking about, uh, over the weekend is it shows you the power of the media, right? The violence that, that, or the, you know, the, the terror that Israelis felt, right? They really painted that picture, like, Oh my God, they were, they were kidnapped. They were getting shot at this and that. And it's like, people were upset about that. Like, just imagine the media show the everyday life of a Palestinian, how outraged you think people would be seeing their homes, homes being bombed, the hospitals running out of medical supplies. If that was running 24 seven on CNN, look what Israel is doing
Miguel:bombing ambulances,
Abraham:bombing the roads on their way to the, uh, safe zone. Israel will collapse, completely collapse. and I think what happened in October seven, it kind of showed how fragile the military is, right? They were able to take over some of the military bases, Hamas a statement and saying that they. And then you're even seeing now, right, like the interviews of some of the girls that were captured.
Miguel:Yeah, some of the settlers, the Israelis, saying they were treated well by Hamas or whoever captured them. There's not just Hamas, there's different liberation groups within Palestine.
Abraham:Yeah. And yeah, that's it. And they try to blank it into one boogeyman, right? Hamas, right? that's another thing that I get frustrated when reading articles is that it's just all Hamas, Hamas. They don't realize that it's a, it's a pretty complex network of resistant fighters. And they're not, they're not all within the borders of Palestine. There's some within outside borders. but they don't want to say that because then they'll be like, Oh, well, that people are actually fighting for their existence. It's not just a terrorist organization. But, um, yeah, man, it's, it's, uh, I'm, I'm trying to think what's going to happen next because once Israel collapses, I'm very optimistic that it will, but we'll see, we'll see what happens.
Miguel:Yeah. And, uh, did you see, uh, Biden's going to be going there on Wednesday, like this. Within the last couple hours of us recording right now, I saw that news because Anthony Blinken's ass was over there, too.
Abraham:Yeah, I saw the Washington Post read the article of Blinken visiting with He went to Saudi Arabia,
Miguel:oh Yeah, that too.
Abraham:Yeah, and he wasn't too happy the way he was treated they made him like supposed to wait really long time in the lobby and was just not kind of like given like the the red carpet treatment Which if, for those who have been paying attention to regional politics, that's been happening for a while. a few years ago when the, uh, uh, Joe Biden went to Saudi Arabia, I mean it was, they didn't, they didn't roll out the red carpet for him. Remember it was just like a little fist pump with him and, Bin Salman, right? it was just like a red carpet, and then like a month or two later... Uh, Xi Jinping went to Saudi Arabia and it was like the whole red carpet
Miguel:threw a party,
Abraham:threw a party for him, welcome him. And he just kind of, that kind of hinted at like, yeah, man, I don't, I think your friendship is collapsing. And then they dropped the dollar. They're working more with China.
Miguel:Yeah. They're going to join. They joined bricks.
Abraham:Yeah. and so you can see that. And so when I read that today, I was like, well, that's kind of predicted, you know, like they're not really in good terms. And also, I think a week before, October 7th, Benjamin Netanyahu went to the UN and he put out a map of what Israel was supposed to be. And he already took out Gaza.
Miguel:That was before the, what happened on October 7th.
Abraham:Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, everyone knows that Israel eventually wants to expand as well, right? Like, they also, they're taking territories in Lebanon, trying to take territories in Syria. and so when I read that, I was like, yeah, I'm not kind of, I'm not surprised if people are going to start turning their back on you.
Miguel:Yeah, like the U. S. influence isn't as strong anymore there. I'm like, it's probably holding on to that last bit of influence they got, and this, this might just flip it like where they don't got nothing anymore.
Abraham:Yeah, and the timing of it too, because they were, Saudi Arabia and Israel were getting close to normalizing relations.
Miguel:Yeah, they were about to do that. Which, I'm sure this might've been part of what happened with the resistance on October 7th. Cause they, none of the Arabic world wanted that. Like all the, no. So like Saudi Arabia was already doing some treacherous stuff there.
Abraham:To say the least.
Miguel:and then, uh, some other stuff I saw, like people like, oh yeah, we're for Palestine, but like. Kind of like, kind of like a both side ism kind of thing. They were like, you know, cause they don't want violence or all this. Oh, I think I saw someone like complaining about Hamas cause they're not communists and shit. And I'm like. I'm like, do you not know there's primary and secondary contradictions? Like, yeah, Hamas isn't communist, who cares about that right now? Like, who cares? But there was a very, uh, US Western kind of like commie take, not from everyone, but certain people with that take.
Abraham:Yeah. we can't criticize that because we have, we have, it's our government that's doing all this, you know, Israel. Yeah.
Miguel:And there's different material condition and conditions in different places. Like, yeah, let Palestine get liberation first. And then you could go on to the next stuff.
Abraham:Exactly.
Miguel:I pointed it out on a post. I don't even remember where I posted it, but it was like when China, before their revolution, They were like aligned with KMT because they needed to defeat Japanese imperialism. You know, like their opposites, like one's communists and one's nationalists, like right wing, but like they joined forces to liberate their country. And then they, then later the civil war happened, obviously the revolution happened, but like. you can't have a perfect, like, communist, I don't know, it was an annoying thing I saw him, like, who cares about that? Plus, there's other Palestinian, you know, resistance fighters that are part of a communist, like, you know, guerrilla force. Like, there's different ones, and they're all, they're all together right now, even though they might have different politics with each other, because what comes first is the free Palestine.
Abraham:Yeah, and they can't be free, we have enough on our hands to... To stop the U. S. from funding Israel. Because once you cut that off, Israel won't be able to stand on its two legs.
Miguel:if people actually knew how much money goes to Israel.
Abraham:Right, right. Four, four billion dollars annually. It's a blank check.
Miguel:It's like every year for how many, how many years? They've been, they've been pretty much since the U. S. became the global power. Yeah. And Israel, yeah, after World War II.
Abraham:And that's another thing that really gets me frustrated is that you have the, One of the most advanced technologies, and bombs, and weapons that Israel has against a people with no army, a people with no navy, a people with no police, like, they're out there throwing rocks at tanks. And how do people be like, Oh, well, there's two sides to it. No, there isn't. There isn't at all. This is, this is guerrilla warfare. This is, they're on the ground. They're whatever means of production, whatever means of stuff they can get. You know, they're going to get it to defend themselves. Yeah.
Miguel:so, uh, there is another, oh, you, you saw that piece from Yahoo, that lady, I posted it to, it was like Yahoo sports and like, it was like about the NFL's, uh, support for it.
Abraham:Oh yeah.
Miguel:Israel. Oh man. That was so bad.
Abraham:They all were kneeling before the game in honor of, in memory or like in solidarity with Israel.
Miguel:Yeah. Yep.
Abraham:I thought you were against people kneeling and bringing politics to the game? Did you see what happened at the, Angel City game?
Miguel:Yeah, they kicked out the fan. Yeah. The Palestinian flag, right?
Abraham:Yeah. so on Saturday at the march, a buddy of mine had told me that they were... Um, he's involved in, in, in, um, the SG, the support groups and told me what his partner were going to do. And, um, they're going to bring in flags and they made this big 10 by 10 Palestinian flag and they were going to wave it there. And then they had that sign. So I told him to send me pictures and that's why I posted it. so I think it's pretty dope and you can see that it got a really good response.
Miguel:Hey, so were they the ones that got kicked out?
Abraham:Uh, I think one, one guy got kicked out. It was someone else, right? Yeah, yeah. And he's the guy that, um, he would go to every LAFC and Angel City game. Oh, so he's a big, yeah. Yeah. So he's, so the flag's been there. He's, he, they know him. He's been there. But now because of
Miguel:So he's had the Palestinian flag there before.
Abraham:Yep. Yep.
Miguel:Oh, but now they care.
Abraham:Now they care. Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. That was, that was the big thing that he was like, man, I've, I've I bring this every single time I come. So, and now because of, you know, they got the order from the top to not allow it. even the politicians who can't, they can't even say like cease fire or, bloodshed or anything like that. So everyone's being censored.
Miguel:No. Oh yeah. And they can't use the word. Some places aren't, some media's not letting them use the word Gaza. it's pretty intense. Um, I remember when just a couple years ago when the war in Ukraine started and all the, all the banning of Russian stuff, same, you know, same thing's happening now. Yeah. Um, when it comes to Palestine.
Abraham:Yeah. And then the same people who were like, yeah, you got to defend, you got to defend the Ukrainians from, from resistance of an occupying power. But somehow the Palestinians is a little bit different. It's too, it's too complex. It's, yeah.
Miguel:I wonder what the difference is.
Abraham:Right? yeah. And it's, it's, as I'm saying like the people's politics collapsed at the door of Palestine because they don't, yeah, it's just frustrating. Cause I guess it's, it's, you're pushing, if your politics align with, The Pentagon? Then you're wrong.
Miguel:Yep.
Abraham:I would say if your politics align with the Pentagon, then you're obviously not. You know, you're on the wrong side. That's always what you could measure your politics to and know what side. Mm-hmm.
Miguel:the right side to be in on is on.
Abraham:yep.
Miguel:Yeah. If you're on the same side. Yeah. If you're on the same political line as Pentagon on a topic
Abraham:Yep.
Miguel:Then you're on the wrong side. Yeah.
Abraham:We saw that in the Arab Spring. We had to, we had to, we had to support the revolutionaries in Libya'cause they're, they wanna overthrow the government.'cause it was a, you know, the Arab Spring. His movements, it's like, ah, no, hold on, back up. You got it.
Miguel:Or, um, when they supported the, people in Hong Kong against China.
Abraham:Oh yeah. Yeah. The freedom fighters,
Miguel:they're all wearing Trump hats protests over there.
Abraham:Oh my God. And people buy it and people buy it. They were, they were, they were eating it up and you got to defend democracy. Yeah. Even though the main guy that was like organizing, he was like traveling freely throughout the country. Yeah,
Miguel:he's all like, he's like that lady from North Korea. Yeah. Yeah. Forgot her name right now.
Abraham:Such a, such a dictatorship that you get to travel freely and go anywhere you want. Yeah, go and get paid. Yeah.
Miguel:let me read that Dodgers statement because I, man, when this statement happened, I was like, all right, we're Dodgers, we're, this is going to, they're done. They're going to get swept. And that's exactly,
Abraham:as of earlier today, I don't think LAFC has, has published a statement.
Miguel:So they haven't made a statement, just Angel FC, huh?
Abraham:Yeah, yeah. And then they're owned by, um, my buddy was telling me, this actress is a big owner, a big part of the, ownership group or whatever. she's a Zionist. So some folks are saying
Miguel:Wait, That's owner of Angel FC.
Abraham:Yeah. Cause there's like, it's not just like a one. I don't think it's just,
Miguel:yeah. Yeah. They have a bunch of different owners.
Abraham:Yeah. But there's just actors. I forgot her name. So, And they were saying like, I don't know why she didn't just post it on her personal page because she has a bigger following because she's a Zionist. and I think that she had the major influence in that statement.
Miguel:That's probably what happened.
Abraham:Mm-hmm.
Miguel:I'm all Googling it right now. Oh, Natalie Portman?
Abraham:Yeah. Natalie Portman.
Miguel:Oh, what? Star Wars
Abraham:That's two Star Wars characters that that are on the wrong side of.
Miguel:Yeah. People look at Mark Hamill's crappy. I think it was a tweet that's out on Instagram.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:Supporting. I'm like Luke Skywalker
Abraham:I know.
Miguel:Supporting, supporting the Empire. Pretty much the dark side.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:yeah, I guess it's, well, it's Natalie Portman. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah. Oh my. Yeah. So I'm saying just like that heat owner, cause I know, I know about him. Cause he was, he supports like, uh, what's it called? The APIC.. I think he supports them. He supports like a lot of Zionists like stuff. Even like the way it's not an owner of a team, he already died. But like the, the guy that like helped fund the Raiders new stadium, that was like the owner of a casinos in Vegas, it's like Sandy and something, Andrew Olson. I can't remember his name. He died a few before the thing, he died like four or five years ago, but he was like the key guy that helped to get Nevada to like decide to fund the stadium for the Raiders, and he was like a big Zionist, so there's a lot of. There's some people that are in powerful positions in pro sports in the U. S. that have, like, that are Zionists.
Abraham:And across the media landscape too, and with the recent events that really kind of, they flexed their power. even the photojournalist from Reuters was killed. I don't know if you saw how they covered it. He died from, and this was just on their side. Um, everyone else said that he died from an Israeli strike, but they couldn't even say that Israeli killed him. The Israel killed him.
Miguel:Didn't they say like it came at the, come from the direction of Israel or something.
Abraham:Direction of Israel is like, even, even some of the UN like human rights groups or can't even say that, IDF that's killing, that's bombing people. It's just from airstrikes. That's it. And it's just, it's not very specific. and that's another thing too is that for a country that, that, uh, or here, you know, North Americans that preach about obeying the law, law and order, Israel is violating so many international laws that no one's really talking about. Or even writing about, except for Mint Press, and Mint Press did a really good breakdown of all the, yeah,
Miguel:I shared it too.
Abraham:Yeah. And I was like, man, this is great. And I kind of wanted to tag all the outlets are like, yo, you might want to mention this. You might want to inform your readers, that Israel is breaking the law. and then, you know, even in some of the articles, they, they start off with like, After Hamas's terrorist attack, and it's very like worded very carefully so that Israel's the victim, it's good versus bad. And it gives you just, it gives the reader just the, the, the picture that, that Israel has to defend itself. Cause that's, that's their, you know, that's their, their, what do you call it? Like their, their reason for, for bombing Gaza.
Miguel:Yeah. And even that one narrative, well, obviously the one we talked to the 40 babies one, and then the one about the rave that too. And like there, they said some lady was like killed and they had her naked body or something, but then it turns out she was alive in a hospital and her own mom confirmed it.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:And they did it right away when it was happening. Like they went straight to that propaganda right away. Like that first day.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:First or second day. So you were talking about that Mint Press did that, those really good slides on lists of war crimes that Israel has committed since October 7th. So I'm going to mention some of them here. obviously genocide. So they like, they cite like some of the laws from the international criminal court for that there's one called willful killings, article eight to a one Israel's targeting of the Shabam family home, killing all six members, two parents and their children, torture and inhuman treatment, which we already know people have been paying attention to Israel and Palestine, the IDF is always torturing Palestinians. Um, they've been doing that, um, you know, they torture them the same thing that U. S. did to Iraqis in Afghanistan and in Afghanistan, too, in that war. Disgusting stuff, like, you know, like waterboarding and stuff like that. so I would recommend checking out that slide. I, you posted it and I posted it on my podcast, Instagram page. So, but it's, it's a very good slides. Uh, I would, if people want to teach people about what's happening, that's something that you could show, like, this made me think when you're talking about, you want to talk to people and like. You know, get a more knowledgeable what's happening, like even today, and I'm talking to my mom, like mom doesn't, she's not political, she's like 70, um, we were talking about it, right? She's like, I just don't like war, blah, blah, blah, right? I don't want people to die. And I'm like, so I'm explaining it to her. I'm like, Hey, mom, you know that the prime minister of Israel. Guess where he's from and she's like what where and I'm like, he's from Philadelphia and she was like what I'm like Yeah, I'm like all the people in Israel are usually from the US or Europe like they're not from they got homes in the US And in Europe and then they got their home. They stole in Israel and occupied Palestine from Palestinians like
Abraham:Yeah, they have dual.
Miguel:That's like when, on October 7th, they're showing footage of people at the airport flying out, and I'm like, real refugees ain't getting on a plane, buying a ticket, and like...
Abraham:Most Palestinians don't even have a passport, and the, the, the settlers have a dual passport. They have their Israeli one and the U. S. one, or a European one.
Miguel:With that bullshit birthright stuff.
Abraham:Yep. It was kind of... You know, you and I are, you know, communists, so the contradictions kind of played out for themselves when they were all like running away from their, their, their home so that they wanted so bad, that once, once she hits the fan, they were, they were gone.
Miguel:They're gone, going back to their other home.
Abraham:Yeah. Yeah.
Miguel:And then, oh, you see those, see that and you, I saw it. It was been all over. It's probably like a coordinated news thing too. At first, I think I saw it on the KTLA five or ABC, like la like Facebook or something. but it was like they had interviewed like people who's sending their kids, their kids are flying to like Israel, to fight for Israel, like from the us like from California. They're like at LAX. And their parents were all crying. Oh, they're, I'm like, uh, the propaganda
Abraham:The propaganda man. You know, they all have to serve in the army eventually. Right? That's like part of mm-hmm. part of the, the occupying policy is, is that every person has to serve at some point. So who knows? Maybe they even just got called back and they wanna make it all dramatic. Like, oh, he's gonna go and defend Israel. Uh, man, I can't, I, yeah, I have to, I have to stop watching the news cause this is really, So, so much proper,
Miguel:yeah, like I, I like muted my DMS and stuff cause I'm like in different groups to like with other like people sending news information. But I'm like, man, I'm just getting overwhelmed right now. Like, yeah, it's depressing, especially like, obviously, you know, we're not dealing with what they're dealing with over there, obviously. but like, yeah. For people like us who follow all this stuff, it gets depressing, man, like
Abraham:it is, it is, and it's, a couple of friends were, you know, debating whether, because, you know, if you, I'm sure you follow times of Gaza, on Twitter and Ig. And, you know, they post, they have people out there and they're posting what's happening. And it's, it's just, it's, I feel like if anyone really wants to pay attention, really looks at it, It would tell them the truth. Without having to look at CNN. If you just look at what's the journalists and the people on the ground who are fighting for this. I think it would tell them the truth, cause like, it's hard to go off on a tangent, but it, it fucking sucks. Sorry to curse.
Miguel:Oh, you could curse on you.
Abraham:No one from the so quote unquote progressive arm of the democratic party is standing up to this.
Miguel:Oh yeah. Are you talking about like people like in the squad?
Abraham:Any of them, any of them, they're writing letters. That's it. Like if you think of the political power and the political Power that politicians have, that they can mobilize their base to take the streets, to shut down business as it is, to stop a genocide. And they're just, Oh no, we're writing a letter to Biden to demand he's, he put a ceasefire to this. Like that's all you're going to do? Like you have grassroots organizations taking out thousands of people on, on, on a Saturday.
Miguel:You get people donating money to you all the time for crappy Democrat campaigns. Like you can't even do something like that.
Abraham:Nope. You can't, you can't even, yeah. Mobilize your base, put pressure on the, on the president, put pressure on the government. and no, cause they, they know that if, you know, that's the, the, the thing that they'll call you is anti Semitic and then that's going to ruin your, your political career. Which is more important to them than the lives of Palestinians.
Miguel:Oh, man. well, the other thing about this, it's pretty much revealing everybody.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:Like for their true politics, whether they're good or they're bad, like you talked about earlier, like this whole thing is like really showing like a lot of how these liberals think. Really think mm-hmm. or believe when it comes to their political ideology or even just shows how racist so many of them are.
Abraham:Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's, they, they want to support Palestine. As long as the Palestinians don't do anything about their situation, the moment they rise up, the moment they, the moment they, they, they do something to break out what the UN has called an open air prison. It's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, not that way. We can't do that. We can't, we don't support violence, but they don't call their situation violent they leave it as is.
Miguel:And so, we saw that, I sent you that video. You saw it too about ESPN did like a little fluff piece before like all the football games. It was like a video of Robert Kraft.
Abraham:Yeah,
Miguel:like support for Israel and then it even shows like Gillette Stadium has like a they have like a command center like Kind of like a fusion center and they're tracking all this like supposed hate.
Abraham:Oh, man That is terrible.
Miguel:Yeah, so the whole onslaught of like propaganda is on US sports right now. Like, um, then if even I was watching, I forgot what game it was. Maybe it was the game. I think it was just on all the games, but like, obviously they did like a moment of silence to NFL. Um, but I guess that the lens, cause they had games in London. Right. So this weekend, I think it was Ravens versus Bills in London, um, at the Spurs stadium. I guess I saw it cause Dave Zirin did an article about it. But I guess some fans were chanting free Palestine and you could hear it in the game on live TV. I, I watched that game, but I didn't wake up. Early enough to see like the first quarter. I think I started watching the second quarter. So I missed that. But I guess they said people were chanting like that was like the only game where people were chanting free Palestine. And then like I guess the camera kind of like cut, tried to cut out of it.
Abraham:Nice, nice. I know I saw the Browns game. Someone was rocking a Palestine flag. That was uh, pretty at the bottom. Someone posted online. I was like, oh hell yeah. I mean it was at the World, remember the World Cup?
Miguel:Oh, I did an episode on that. Like, that was probably the best support of Palestine I've seen in sports this whole time I've been paying attention to politics and sports, like everyone was for Palestine and then they had the Israeli media there and everyone would like shun them.
Abraham:They got trolled and like, it was funny when the guy was like, you could tell they didn't want to interview someone if they knew they were going to be like. You know, supportive of Palestine. The guy was like, Oh, we funny. And he think he lies like Netherlands or something. He was like, Oh,
Miguel:Oh yeah, they said that they weren't from Israel. I could, I loved it. I loved it, man. I couldn't stop watching those videos. It was just even the English, the other thing, the English guy to look one last thing. Pre Palestine. Oh, yeah. And then that's the other thing I've noticed is very obvious. So US sports pro teams and like athletes you could tell they're way more propagandized by all this because all the statements like the one I just read right out of LeBron, but then you'll see more pro Palestine stuff from athletes from other countries and other leagues and other. You know, usually soccer, football players, you know, like the Moroccan team, they showed their, they had a match, I guess, recently, and they also showed their support, but they were doing that at the world cup.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:even saw the Arsenal a fans did a statement. they did a state, like it's just people in the U S are so propagandized on, on just everything, but like,
Abraham:Even that track runner, remember he, he was, he won the, that was his name. Nolan Lyles, something. The track runner who said that, uh, you know what, he doesn't like how NBA calls themselves the world champions.
Miguel:Oh, they call themselves the world champions? Yeah. All the NBA players got all mad?
Abraham:Got all mad. It's like, well, he's right. Not a world champion.
Miguel:It's true.
Abraham:You win a championship here, but. not the world.
Miguel:Yeah. Like, are you playing as the champion from the Spanish league, from the Euro league then it'll be a world that's all the U S sports has been doing. Like they always call everything the world champions, right?
Abraham:Yeah. Cause I mean, look at all the top players, if they went back to their home country, right? Like Giannis wouldn't play here. Joel Embid and Luca wouldn't play here.
Miguel:Nope.
Abraham:You know, you would have all these players who, you know, technically you probably wouldn't even win.
Miguel:Yeah. And in something, in a sport like basketball, there's way more international players than even in the nineties. Like there was already a lot in the nineties, but not to this much level. Like,
Abraham:yeah, I think the world caught up to the NBA as far as the style of play.
Miguel:cause in baseball that already had happened, most of the baseball players are from other countries, but like you had an NBA, it was kind of slowly and now it's kind of becoming like, just like that.
Abraham:Yeah. Yeah. And it's exciting too. Cause I like watching basketball.
Miguel:Yep, basketball is my favorite sport, if I had to pick. Um, I love everything, but it's probably basketball is my number one.
Abraham:That's my second. I'm a baseball head. I grew up a baseball head.
Miguel:Oh, baseball's right there.
Abraham:Yeah, I can't.
Miguel:They're like, it's like basketball 1A, baseball 1B, and then like... Everything else I follow just as much too, but like, if I had to pick it, those would be my top two.
Abraham:Hell yeah. Yeah, and I love that basketball.
Miguel:Because that's how I grew up too. I grew up with playing baseball and basketball.
Abraham:Hell, yeah.
Miguel:I played football in high school, but I wasn't very good. And then I have a disability, so that's probably why too. But like, It's probably best you don't play basketball. But I played, but like, baseball and basketball are my favorite though, always.
Abraham:Yeah, yeah, same. I'm getting more into soccer. I played soccer, but I didn't, uh...
Miguel:Yeah, see, so I always liked soccer, and then my brothers, they all played, my younger brothers, they all played, like, club soccer and everything. But I, I liked it, but I never got into it as much. And maybe it was because my disability has to do with my leg. Legs, so, like, maybe that's why, but, like, I always liked it, but I just didn't play it as much.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:but now, same thing, I'm getting more into it. Like, I already liked it, but I was, I'd be, like, a more fair weather fan, I guess. now I have a team, like I picked Liverpool as my team, but like, I like, now I'm starting to watch, watch it more as far as like outside of world cup and all that, football always watched since I was little. So, but yeah, I used to watch hockey too. I still do. I'm technically a Kings fan, but like LA Kings fan. but I maybe, or like after I was like out of high school, I wasn't watching it as much because there is so much stuff, it's kind of hard to focus on everything too.
Abraham:Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
Miguel:I try to, um, just cause I'm a sports fan and then I have a podcast now.
Abraham:Yeah, no, I mean, I love the, I love the concept. Connecting, you know, politics and culture to, to sports. A lot of people don't, a lot of times they, they, they try to separate it, which everything is, they don't realize that everything is connected.
Miguel:Oh man. I get annoyed with comrades that are like, so anti sports like some that are, like,
Abraham:yeah, yeah.
Miguel:Cause they just think of the capitalist part. But like, it's like a way. That's why I wanted to do this because I, I had this idea before it was a podcast, like I had a website, but I never, I wrote on it a little bit and then I stopped when I was in grad school. Um, but then I made the podcast. This makes it easier. But like people like Dave Zirin, I guess, influenced me.
Abraham:That's dope. Yeah, he's a great writer. I like reading his stuff.
Miguel:I'm like, and people like the masses all like sports working class people, like are sports fans, like there's, this is a good way to like connect them to what's happening with politics. Right. And then politics are always happening in sports leagues and people, some people could say like, Oh, leave it out of politics, out of sports, but politics are always in sports, just like it's always pretty much part of your life every day. People don't think about it like that. All these decisions made that you didn't make, like, you know, how much you get paid, all this all comes from politics.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:Like our whole life is revolved around politics, but people, it's all that whole thing where they like try to like make you think, Oh, don't talk about politics. Don't talk about this, that.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:But that's probably why that came about. They didn't want you to talk about it. So you don't learn.
Abraham:Exactly. Exactly. I have friends who tell me, I don't want to talk politics. And then like two minutes later, they complain about how everything's expensive.
Miguel:It's crazy how people don't think about that. Like, they don't think of the connection, how it's all rooted to something.
Abraham:Yeah. Yeah. But no, I mean, I love the, I love your show. Uh, the concept, um, we need more, more communists to get involved in, you know, other non, non political quote unquote circles to connect the dots.
Miguel:Yeah. I've seen other people are doing, like someone, they just started following me on Instagram and they have a podcast and it was like, it was like cars and like communism and they're like talking about cars and stuff and I'm like, dude, that's,
Abraham:that's awesome.
Miguel:Dope too. Like,
Abraham:oh yeah,
Miguel:because I'm not a big car person, but I have, I know a bunch of people that are, yeah, and I'm like, Dude, like, that's kind of the same thing I'm trying to do with here, but doing that with them, something else that people like,
Abraham:I grew up in a car.
Miguel:I'll send it to you. I'll send it to you. I know they had, I think they had someone, cause I just barely found out about them because they just, they started following me. but they had someone from like, Okay. Rev left radio or something on their podcast, too.
Abraham:Okay.
Miguel:Yeah, like recently as a guest. So like, so they're connecting with other people and stuff, but yeah, there's, I remember seeing, I don't want to see in a while, but it was on YouTube. There was like a video, like podcasts, but, uh, they were doing like comics or something like that. I think I've seen something like that too.
Abraham:That's dope. Hell yeah.
Miguel:That's, that's how people need to do that. Like whenever you're interested in, you could connect it to this.
Abraham:Exactly. People have like this. Stigma that communists have to be a certain way. It's like, oh man, it's workers. We're all workers.
Miguel:Yeah, you're workers. At the most basic level, it's about workers.
Abraham:Yeah, workers that make the cars. Workers that play the sports, man.
Miguel:that's another thing. Like, obviously there's a lot of, now a lot of athletes make millions, but people don't realize how a majority of... Like most don't.
Abraham:Yeah, and they're all under a union.
Miguel:Yeah, and they're a union. And they're still workers.
Abraham:Yeah, exactly.
Miguel:They're workers, they're not the bosses.
Abraham:No, no, much as they want to say they are, but they're not.
Miguel:Like, I think the one that, with the whole minor league baseball issue that was happening, how they were not getting paid, like, that opened people's eyes. I know it did because like, I think a lot of people thought, Oh, they get paid good too. Cause they're about to be in the majors. I'm like, dude, they get paid. No, I, it was sad. I'm I, my job, I don't even get paid a crazy amount, but like I was making more than like minor league baseball players. And like, people don't realize it.
Abraham:No, man. And they live in a crowded housing too. So you can only imagine like the mental health and, the relationships they have, the damages that it does to them. And
Miguel:I'm like, now they're part of the union, but this just happened not that long ago. But like all these minor league players, yeah, still not, it still could be better, but it's better than it was before.
Abraham:But it just shows how, the benefits of having a union, right? When I got a union, like six months later, they got a raise, but they wouldn't get a raise before.
Miguel:And then I, I think the. The whole actors and writers strike open some people's eyes to, yeah, cause it's kind of the same thing. They think that all the, all the actors are like big movie stars that make all this money. I'm like,
Abraham:no,
Miguel:all those people in the movies, like that aren't the stars.
Abraham:No
Miguel:extras. All those are working actors. Like they don't get paid like that.
Abraham:And they're trying to eliminate them by like, like using AI and stuff.
Miguel:Well, that's another thing. Like in sports house, some people want robot umps. Like sometimes I'm like, maybe cause these umps be doing some crappy calls, but like, but then, but then I'm like, nah, I don't want no robot umps. Cause then they're going to lose jobs too.
Abraham:It's just a home plate ump.
Miguel:Yeah. So that's, maybe that's the best solution.
Abraham:And I've, I've heard, I've heard some good arguments of like, there'll still be an ump back there, but they won't be calling balls or strikes.
Miguel:Cause that's, that's where all the bad calls usually happen.
Abraham:Exactly. And you just have balls and strikes. You just have them there. If there's a play at home where the computer can't, you know, tell you like
Miguel:to get them out, thrown out or something.
Abraham:So you tell him if you're not getting rid of them and then the people that are stopping it from happening is the umps is the umps that are not allowing it to happen, but
Miguel:they got their own union too.
Abraham:Yeah. So, yeah, man, it's just interesting times in sports right now.
Miguel:Yeah, it is. And I'll probably end, end up having to do another episode on this topic in sports. Cause it looks like this is not gonna, this might be a long term thing.
Abraham:Yep.
Miguel:Hopefully Palestine wins.
Abraham:Yeah. Yeah. And we'll see how it turns out if it gets, you know, bigger with a regional conflict and yeah, it's gonna.
Miguel:Yeah, that's the thing right now.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:What domino falls when it comes to that stuff. Like if Biden's going there on Wednesday. it's because something might, there might be things that could be happening.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:Right. So.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:Like they're obviously already interested in Israel because we're the ones that U. S. is the one that funds them. Gives them all the money.
Abraham:Yeah. And the U. S. is forever trying, been trying to go to war with Iran. And then trying to overthrow Syria. they already damaged most of the region. So yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how, how this plays out. But the, I think I have a strong feeling that the, I have a strong feeling that the region would not let Palestine fall.
Miguel:It won't because the Arabic world is pretty, pretty, uh, aligned together, like everybody, like, so, yeah, I agree.
Abraham:Yeah, so we'll see, but I have a feeling that if it gets, if it gets, I mean it sucks to say this, but it's already really bad, but I feel like if it gets worse and worse, that eventually the region will stand up for Palestine.
Miguel:Someone has to stand up to him if it's going to keep going. Like, of course I don't want world war three, but like, you can't, if someone's killing your family, what would you do? Like,
Abraham:yeah, man,
Miguel:even when people are like, like pacifists or something, you know, like, of course I don't want violence, but like. That's like the ideal, but even like, let's, you know, when the doctors hit your knee and you get the reflection, I kind of, I've used that analogy before. Like it's kind of like a self defense mechanism, like self defense.
Abraham:If you got to self defend yourself, then you, and you had to use violence because the person trying to kill you or oppress you. That's what they only know. Yep.
Miguel:Like you're going to fight back. Like that's actually a natural reaction. but yeah, that's some, sometimes that's the analogy I've used with people that are like always just, Oh, no, I'm like kind of do the both sides thing.
Abraham:Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I've, I've, I've been fortunate to, to travel the region. I went to Iran and Egypt and it's everyone that you talk to knows more about geopolitics than most Americans. They'll tell you about,
Miguel:I think most of the world, the people know, yeah, it's, it's, it's
Abraham:I just, it felt very welcoming. Like I was talking to people, no, there's stuff, they can break down the sanctions when they kick in, when they don't, what presidents they hated the most, like, you know, most Americans wouldn't even be able to point you on a map where Iran is that
Miguel:they wouldn't even know where Israel is that occupied Palestine,
Abraham:exactly. So, I have a strong feeling that the region won't let Palestine fall. So,
Miguel:yeah, so we'll see how it goes. We'll follow up. Yeah. So, um, anything else you want to say before we end this podcast?
Abraham:Two words, man. Free Palestine.
Miguel:Free Palestine.
Abraham:Yep.
Miguel:That's right. so yeah, we'll end it right here. It's good talking to you. Hey, whenever you want to come on my podcast, I've said it before, but come on, I'm down. I haven't been recording as much, but I want to do that. Like be more consistent, like how I first started and I slow down a lot, but. Need to do more episodes. So
Abraham:Hell yeah. yeah man.
Miguel:Hopefully I do Start doing more again, but I'm glad you hit me up to do this because I wanted to do it I'm always like wanting to get guests. I always try to think Oh who wants to be a guest? I'm glad whenever people hit me up.
Abraham:Yeah man.
Miguel:So yeah, anyone listening if you ever want to be on, you know, we know each other you want to be on the podcast You have some topics with sports and politics. Just let me know and I could try to
Abraham:if you want I'll talk to him, but my friends that were part of the organizing the, uh, the Palestinian flag for the AFC game, for the Angel City game. They were the ones that were making them and organizing them.
Miguel:Oh, I'm down. Yeah. Maybe we could do a little episode on it.
Abraham:Yeah, yeah. That'd be cool.
Miguel:Like next week or in...
Abraham:I'll let you know.
Miguel:I think I'll be, I'll be busy the first few days next week, but let me know.
Abraham:For sure.
Miguel:Cause I'll be, that'll be dope. I've had done episodes kind of like that before too. Like I had, uh, I had like, people, the one about, you know, Dodger stadium, how it got, you know, the, yeah, I've had. So I'm always down to do stuff like that. Uh, I think one time I had some spokesmen from a union that was organizing like the San Francisco Giants concession workers, so yeah, stuff like that, people do actions that involve sports. I want to have them on the podcast, like, I kind of thought about that too. If this keeps going, hopefully people could start organizing actions at sports stadiums like they were doing for black lives matter in the past.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:I think that that's a good place to do it at.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:You know, you'll get a lot of haters, but,
Abraham:and there's a lot of cameras out there to at least try to get it off.
Miguel:So maybe that's something people could do in the future.
Abraham:Yeah.
Miguel:That'd be pretty cool. But yeah, I'm always down to do, talk about those things on this podcast. Yeah. Thanks Abraham for coming on the podcast. I'll put all the links in the show notes for people. Um, and then it's more specific topics, different ones I could find of how to do with sports and what's happening in Palestine. I'll put that in the show notes. Uh, so yeah, thanks Abraham. And then. I'll have you on the podcast.
Abraham:I'll be back. All right. Thank you.