Episode 15, Jumada al-Awwal 1445
In this episode of Islam & Earth in the second Jumah of Jumada al-Awwal, 1445, Dr. Nick Estes, a member of the lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Professor of American Indian Studies, as well as co-founder of the Red Nation Movement, and Indigenous Solidarity with Palestine speaks both of his personal experiences as well as the work he leads on Indigenous solidarity with Palestine on the deep and direct connections between realities of the Indigenous Peoples and the ongoing Palestinian gen0c!d*.
Dr. Estes touches on the historical, socio-political, as well as spiritual connections that connect the resistance of Indigenous peoples in North America and around the world to the Palestinian resistance against an apartheid state. "...We still continue this long line of resistance, that we have these embers that can burst into flames in moments of rupture that we are seeing now..." he says. He speaks from his own experiences in visiting Palestine and the feelings that overwhelmed him when he witnessed mass unmarked graves of Palestinian peoples.
In this conversation, he discusses how language and media connect to the erasure and ethnic cleansing process of both Indigenous peoples around the world as well as people in Gaza.
He also provides insight on healing, and where hope becomes a journey that humanity, collectively must move towards.
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Dr. Nick Estes is an enrolled member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and is an Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota. He studies colonialism and global Indigenous histories, focusing on decolonization, oral history, U.S. imperialism, environmental justice, anti-capitalism, and the Oceti Sakowin. Dr. Estes is the author of the award-winning book Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (2019), which places the Indigenous-led movement to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline into historical context. Dr. Estes co-hosts the Red Nation podcast and is the lead editor of Red Media, an Indigenous-run non-profit media organization that publishes books, videos, and podcasts. Estes is also a member of the Oceti Sakowin Writers Society (formerly Oak Lake Writers Society), a network of Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota writers committed to defend and advance Oceti Sakowin sovereignty, cultures, and histories. He is also an award-winning journalist whose writing has been featured in the Guardian, The Intercept, Jacobin, Indian Country Today, The Nation, NBC News, The Funambulist Magazine, High Country News, and the New Yorker.
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More info regarding Dr. Este's work can be found at:
Indigenous Solidarity with Palestine: https://indigenousforpalestine.org/
The Red Nation Website: https://therednation.org/
Twitter: https://x.com/nickwestes?s=20
Our History is the Future book: https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/600-our-history-is-the-future
Tune in every other Jumah (Friday) for a new episode!