Makdisi Street

"Surrender is not an option"

The brothers reunite in a special, in-person episode at their parents' mountain house in Dhour Choueir, Lebanon, to discuss their recent trip to southern Lebanon, what they saw on the ground, the wider regional implications, and where U.S. politics stands today. Produced by Layla Makdisi Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEd2P3lOkN8 X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet  

"Palestinians are wholly excluded from the room" w/ Ta-Nehisi Coates

The brothers welcome journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates back to the show to discuss Kamala Harris's ill-fated 2024 presidential campaign and the debacle of the Democratic Convention's exclusion of Palestinian-American voices (about which he's written recently for Vanity Fair), the betrayal of the radical Black tradition, tensions in the civil rights movement over the question of Palestine and the significance of the emerging break with Zionism on the American right.   Check out his article:  https://www.vanityfair.com/story/the-next-black-president?srsltid=AfmBOorwIn31nJd05iOQ99YVlFQ7ldQCrcpGKRpwpda8EBI4DZctwE7j Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/rZrXgODaPV4 Date of recording: July 13, 2026 X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet    

Patron-only livestream: Latest on Iran, Lebanon and US policy

**Please join our Patreon for access to our next livestream and to submit your questions/comments**   Come and join the brothers for another patron-only livestream discussion of the situation in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. We look forward to your questions and comments! Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: July 16, 2026 X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet    

"Their appetite grows with every war" w/ Aslı Ü. Bâli

The brothers welcome back Aslı Ü. Bâli, Professor of Law at Yale Law School, for an intense and wide-ranging discussion of the state of the Middle East in the aftermath of the failed US-Israeli war on Iran.  They discuss the potential geopolitical outcomes the apparent US strategic defeat, examine the nature and assumptions of what had been American primacy over the Gulf, the liability and costs to the US and the Middle East of the decades-long American political embrace of an Israel drunk on borrowed power and impunity, Turkey's role in the regional realignment, the question of pipelines and resources, and the importance of international law in the context of the Gaza genocide. Check out her recent article, "Object Lessons" https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/object-lessons/ Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel Date of recording: June 23, 2026 X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Check out Ussama's personal SubStack https://makdisi.substack.com/ Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet  

"FIFA is a racket" w/ Abdullah Al-Arian

With the 2026 World Cup having started in the USA, the brothers welcome Abdullah Al-Arian, Chair of History at Georgetown University Qatar and editor of Football in the Middle East: State, Society, and the Beautiful Game. We talk about how football shapes Arab identity, including the role of diaspora, and how it is instrumentalized by Arab states. We also talk about the controversies and politics of the World Cup, including the journey of Team Palestine during a genocide, and discrimination against Iran's team and fans from across the global south. We wrap by discussing the question of FIFA Eurocentrism, corruption, and double standards, including FIFA's cowardice in not banning Israel. For the record, we all try to predict who will win the World Cup! Date of recording: June 19, 2026 Follow us on our socials: X: @MakdisiStreet YouTube: @MakdisiStreet Insta: @Makdisist TikTok: @Makdisistreet Music by Hadiiiiii Consider supporting the showwww.patreon.com/makdisistreet