The Malcolm Effect

#69 The Western Muslim Scholarly class and Their Right Wing Obsession -Yahya Birt

I spoke to Yahya Birt regarding his article. We cover why so many Muslim scholars in the West have decided to align themselves with right wing ideologies. 

 

Yahya Birt has published over a dozen peer-reviewed articles on Islam in Britain and co-edited British Secularism and Religion (2016), Islam in Victorian Liverpool (2021) and The Collected Poems of Abdullah Quilliam (2021). In 2022, he published his first poetry collection, Pandemic Pilgrimage. As a research director at the Ayaan Institute in London, he published Ummah at the Margins: The Past, Present, and Future of Muslim Minorities (2022). He is a co-editor of the Oxford British Muslim Studies series for the Oxford University Press. He lives in West Yorkshire with his family and cat. He likes walking and being grumpy about the state of the world.

 

Twitter:

@MomodouTaal

@YBirt

#68 Laundering Black Rage Part 2 -Too Black & Deej

In this episode, Deej takes over The Malcolm Effect for part 2 of the discussion with Too Black on his essay, ' Laundering Black Rage' 

 

Article can be found here

 

Too Black is a poet, traveling and teaching artist, and author fusing historical content, current events, creative practice, and interpersonal interaction on international stages. He is currently the host of the Black Myths Podcast: a podcast debunking the BS said about Black people while also the producer for The Last Dope Intellectual: an unapologetically radical Black web show hosted by Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Layla Brown.

​

Too Black blends critical analysis with biting sarcasm. He has headlined various stages and events including the historic Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City, Princeton University, and Johannesburg Theater in South Africa. His words have been published in online publications such as Black Agenda Report, Left Voice, Blavity, and Hood Communist.

 

 

 

I.G. @TheGambian

 

Twitter:

@MomodouTaal

@Too_Black_

@FanonIsCanon

#67 Laundering Black Rage Part 1 - Too Black

In this 2 part episode, we unpack Too Black's recent article, titled 'Laundering Black Rage'.

 

Too Black is a poet, traveling and teaching artist, and author fusing historical content, current events, creative practice, and interpersonal interaction on international stages. He is currently the host of the Black Myths Podcast: a podcast debunking the BS said about Black people while also the producer for The Last Dope Intellectual: an unapologetically radical Black web show hosted by Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Layla Brown.

​

Too Black blends critical analysis with biting sarcasm. He has headlined various stages and events including the historic Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City, Princeton University, and Johannesburg Theater in South Africa. His words have been published in online publications such as Black Agenda Report, Left Voice, Blavity and Hood Communist.

 

Article can be found here: Laundering Black Rage

I.G. @TheGambian

 

Twitter:

@MomodouTaal

@Too_Black_

#66 In Conversation - Dr. Cornel West

In this episode we speak to Dr. Cornel West about our current moment and his assessment of where we are today.

 

I.G. @TheGambian

 

 

Twitter:

@MomodouTaal

@FanonIsCanon

@CtayJ

@CornelWest

#65 The Case Against the Sex Trade - Isa

In this episode, Isa puts forwards arguments against the sex trade using a materialist analysis.

Isa is a 20 year old trans woman with a background in socialist organising. Isa is an avid reader who is able to teach complex theory in a digestible manner. Isa was recently involved a worldwide missing persons case that resulted in their abduction. 

 

I.G. @TheGambian

 

 

Twitter:

@MomodouTaal

@EndSanctions

#2 The Crisis Update

This segment is a new addition to The Malcolm Effect in which we aim to release a weekly news update in line with the spirit of internationalism

 

(This episode was recorded on the 26th June 2022)

#64 The Story of Imperialism in Puerto Rico - Dana López

In this episode, Dana takes us through the history and legacy of imperialism in Puerto Rico 

 

Dana López (she, her, ella) 39 years old lives in Aguadilla Puerto Rico with her daughter, partner, and 2 cats. Studying Master of Social Work remotely at Columbia University School of Social Work (Clinical Social Work and Social Welfare Policy) 

 

Dana grew up in several places across what is currently known as the United States racialized and socialized as a "middle class" white woman.  

She returned to university as an adult to complete undergraduate work in Psychology, Social Science and Writing. Then went on to graduate school at Columbia and through the process of education and returning to Puerto Rico during the pandemic to live closer to her partners family, became deeply interested- if not obsessed with the ways that oppressive US imperialist policy is enacted and impacts the people of Puerto Rico.  She discusses the throughlines from invasion to current issues of "status" of Puerto Rico. The ongoing displacement and gentrification of Puerto Ricans and the ways that the US obscures the colonial and imperialist "relationship" between Puerto Rico and the US. 

 

Only some of many books, articles and names for further learning about this issue:

 

-War Against All Puerto Ricans, Nelson A. Denis

-How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Immerwahr 

-La Mordaza (The Gag Law), Ivonne Acosta Lespier

-Free Puerto Rico, Pedro Albizu Campos (anything about Albizu Campos)

-Disaster Capitalism, Naomi Klein

-For those who like Marx and poetry... Read Lo Terciario/The Tertiary by Raquel Salas Rivera

-Centro Archives at Hunter College CUNY

https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/library/#archivesSection

-Boricua College Archives

-University of Puerto Rico Archives 

 

Policy list and key points mentioned for further research:
El Grito de Lares

Carta de Autonomia

The Jones Act 

The Gag Law

US Public Law 136 (forced sterilization of women in Puerto Rico)

Cornelius Rhoades

Ponce Massacre

Nationality Act

Act 20/22/60

PROMESA/ La Junta

Vieques bombings

History of pharmaceutical business, contraception testing

UN Decisions on decolonization of Puerto Rico

 

I.G. @TheGambian

 

 

Twitter:

@MomodouTaal

@DLopezsocialwrk

 

 

 

#1 The Crisis Update

This segment is a new addition to The Malcolm Effect in which we aim to release a weekly news update in line with the spirit of internationalism

 

(This episode was recorded on the 10th June 2022)

#63 A Historical Analysis of Gun Laws in the USA - Dr. Gerald Horne & Christian Joseph

In light of recent mass shootings, Professor Gerald Horne takes us through a historical analysis of US gun laws.

 

Gerald Horne, is an American historian who currently holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.

I.G. @TheGambian

@CtayJ

 

Twitter:

@MomodouTaal

@Ctayj

#62 The Current Culture War and How The Left Should Respond - Dr. Aurelien Mondon

In this episode I spoke to Aurelien Mondon regarding how those on the left should, if at all, respond to the current iteration of 'the culture war'

 

Aurelien Mondon is a Senior Lecturer in politics at the University of Bath. His research focuses predominantly on the impact of racism and populism on liberal democracies and the mainstreaming of far right politics through elite discourse. His first book, The Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right in France and Australia: A Populist Hegemony?, was published in 2013 and he recently co-edited After Charlie Hebdo: Terror, racism and free speech published with Zed. His new book Reactionary democracy: How racism and the populist far right became mainstream, co-written with Aaron Winter, is now out with Verso.

 

I.G. @TheGambian

 

Twitter:

@MomodouTaal

@AurelMondon