Patricia Kullberg hosts this episode of the Old Mole, which includes the following segments:
The Palestine Exception: After years of right-wing assaults on higher education, attacks took a new form in 2023 and 2024 that has been described as the new McCarthyism. As students across the country organize protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, decades-long taboos in academia around criticism of Israel–the “Palestine exception”–are shattered. The story of this movement unfolds in THE PALESTINE EXCEPTION—a new documentary directed by Portland-based filmmakers Jan Haaken and Jennifer Ruth. Denise Morris interviews Jan and Jennifer about the film and the upcoming screening event at Lincoln Hall at Portland State University on Thursday, November 21st at 7 pm. The screening is followed by a panel and is free and open to the public.
Palestinian Novel: What role might be played in political struggle by cultural creations? A new novel, Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, raises this question doubly: both as a novel set in current struggles and in the story it recounts about the contested effort to mount a theatre production in Palestine’s West Bank. With some help from Shakespeare, Norm Diamond reviews the novel.
In Tribute to Joe Hill: Joe Hill was a beloved member of the IWW, a songwriter and activist who is known for such labor classics as “The Preacher and the Slave,” “There is Power in a Union,” and “Rebel Girl.” In 1914 he was convicted of a murder the evidence suggests he did not commit. Tomorrow marks the 110th anniversary of his execution by the State of Utah, despite an international campaign to spare his life. On the eve of his execution Hill called out to his fellow activists: Don’t waste time mourning. Organize!” The Mole brings you the Ballad of Joe Hill, written and performed by Phil Ochs, who was a songwriter and activist in the tradition of Joe Hill.
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