Zina's Buqalah

On October 17th, 1961, less than a year before Algeria won its independence – the French state committed a massacre in the heart of Paris. During a peaceful march, over 12,000 people were arrested in a matter of hours. Algerians were beaten, shot with live ammunition, and their bodies thrown into the Seine River. For decades, the official death count was no higherthan 7, though the truth is that d...

As we mark 2 years since the start of this most recent phase of genocide against the people of Palestine and Gaza, people took to the streets of Oakland - demanding an arms embargo. A dozen people shared their reflections, drawing connections to indigenous peoples and working class struggles from all over the world. From the calls to abolish the Prison Industrial Complex to the violence that the s...

In honor of our elder and football legend, Rachid Mekhloufi, who passed away at the age of 88 on November 8th, 2024. Allah yerhamo. For the 1st ever Algerian football team, who for the last 4 years of the battle for independence, became ambassadors for the cause and traveled the world to raise awareness and build international support for the resistance to French colonialism - for the land of a mi...

Excerpt: "We the 3arabs, the villains from distant lands in so many of your action films, the terrorists and their oppressed wives, the enemy of the free world and your human rights… those of us who apparently keep traumatizing the west, who will be asked to reassure you (time and time again), that yes we are on your side, that we didn’t all compulsively become monsters on Sept 11th, or that indee...

In this episode, we sit with Raheem Divine 🎙️ - a poet, journalist, sociologist & educator born & raised in Oakland, Califas. We spoke of the legacy of the Black Panther Party, the town’s charm & the ways it operates as a portal, the role of culture & the importance of a holistic approach in movement building & liberation. @raheemdivine ‘s work sheds a light on sex trafficking...

This episode was recorded live at La Peña Cultural Center, as part of a benefit show for displaced families in Palestine, Sudan and Congo. Podcasts guests include Turha'ak from Community Ready Corps , Tina of Gabriela Oakland , Maisa of the Palestinian Feminist Collective , Jesus from Stop Cop City Ohlone Lands , and Haneen of the Sudan Tapes Archive. We’re continuing to build across nations &...

This episode was recorded live on May 4th, at the Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland, Califas - at the "Seeds of Resistance" benefit show. Juan from @burnthewagon and I had a vision - of bringing both of our podcasts to a live audience, on the same day. To amplify voices from different nations & liberation movements, because this political moment is really asking us to connect & b...

Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, educator, organizer, and movement worker. His work centers on issues of mass incarceration, extrajudicial killings of Black people and human rights. He has taught at detention centers across the country. His published collections include Someone’s Dead Already (2015), Heaven is All Goodbyes (2017), Blood on the Fog (2021). He also authored a curriculum “We Charge Geno...

A rich episode with Nadya Tannou s, host of Arab Amp Folktales . Nadya is a passionate community organizer, writer and researcher, born and raised in the Bay Area (Unceded Ohlone Territory), with a focus on refugee rights, inter-community empowerment, and returning land to the people and people returning to the land. She is a Creative Partner of Donkeysaddle Projects and is a member of the Arab. A...

In this episode, we hear from photographer and prison abolitionist Nick DeRenzi. He takes us back to his first days with a camera, and through the years as an artist, community organizer, and movement documenter. They say a photo can tell a thousand words, and Nick doesn't stop there. Listen in for a sneak peek of his upcoming film project, which is both a testament to the beauty and resilienc...

In this episode, Vick takes us back to the beginnings of the Sogorea Te' Land Trust, breaks down the history and importance of shellmounds (sacred burial sites) for the Ohlone peoples, and calls on us to (re)build our relationship with the land. They take us back to the first missions that were built and the religious trauma that ensued for California natives. She gives us some insight into local...

To kick off this season (an ode to those born and raised in the Bay Area), Khafre Jay takes the mic. He's a change-maker, community organizer, nonprofit worker, and Hip Hop Artist . As a Bay Area, Hunters Point activist fighting for racial and socioeconomic justice, he empowers community members to use their voices and resist structures of inequality—and he does so in large part through Hip Ho...

This season is for those born and raised in the Bay Area, for their stories, contributions and lived experiences. For their expectations and their demands; especially from those of us who are guests and settlers here. Guests will include artists, healers, educators, community organizers and culture workers.  Tune in, follow this podcast on Instagram , and tell a friend or two.  Beats pro...

This podcast is both a call to remember what’s always been sitting deep within our bones, and an invitation for new stories to emerge. It's an opportunity to speak ourselves and our futures into existence. It’s for the stories that you’d never hear about in school, for the words that move us along both in healing and liberation… and it’s most definitely a nod to our ancestors. Shoutout to all the...

Edxi Betts is a Black, Blackfeet descended trans Pinay multi media insurrectionary artist and organizer. She is also a creator and self distributer of zines, as well as a published writer. She creates both art and media for the sake of propagating resistance culture, counter narrative, and collective liberatory projects that spark discourse, sources of healing, critical thought, dialogue, mutual a...

Jackie Fawn has always been drawing and at one point couldn't stop herself from drawing during her lunch breaks. Today, you can see her art all over Turtle Island... from street murals to café walls and t-shirts and across many indigenous-led frontline struggles.  For me, this indigenous and Filipina (Yurok, Wasiw and Suriganonon) baddie is one of the most important visual artists of thi...

In this episode, Ashley breaks down the spiritual nature of birth keeping and what it means to carry the legacy of her granny midwife from the south . She calls to a collective remembering of the ancestral knowledge and practices that have been passed on for generations, and of deep breath practices that genuinely nourish us.  We also talk poetry, slam circles, and the magic that happens in s...

For this episode, I sat down with Victoria "Kiki" Fajardo of Studio X, a women of color owned and operated recording studio in Oakland, Califas.  She is a recording and mixing engineer, an archivist in sound restoration and preservation. Her focus is in creating a great and comfortable recording and mixing environment where the creative process is collaborative and in the direction that you d...

In this episode, Dioganhdih (they/them) breaks down the process of self-releasing an entire hip hop album through their label Do it Ourselves Records . The 2-spirit indigenous lyricist, MC & producer, hailing from the Akwesasne Mohawk nation, speaks of the tensions at the border that is crossing their ancestral Haudenosaunee territory, of leaving and then coming home to the rez as a queer pers...

Welcome to the 2nd episode of the first season of Zina's Buqalah!  In this episode, I sat down with Diyala Shihadih of the Palestinian Youth Movement. Born and raised in the Bay Area, this Palestinian community organizer breaks down the history of the occupation of her homelands, the importance of stories and symbols (like the olive tree you can see painted across many murals like this one cr...

We have Chirelle LeTrese as our guest for the first full episode of the first season of Zina's Buqalah. And what a gift this first episode has been. We speak of collective story-making, connecting the physical to the spiritual, inner child healing, soul journeys, intersectionality, and how dominant culture has tried to erase our ancient memories while keeping us confined to single stories.  S...

Pronounced "Zeena's Boo-kaa-laa". A buqalah is a clay water pitcher used to tell the future, and the poem that is recited during the ritual. It's an ancient tradition held down by aunties, grandmas, and elders across Algeria today. The poems were recited in darija, an Algerian Arabic vernacular that remains a mystery to most foreigners. This has allowed my people to protect themselves against fore...

I launched the Instagram page for this podcast on October 17th because I wanted to share a piece of our history that has been intentionally silenced and hidden from view. October 17th, 2021 marked the 60-year anniversary of a massacre committed by the French state. Although it happened in plain sight, the story of this day is rarely portrayed in mainstream news, films, books, or even included in o...

Salaams y'all, and welcome! This podcast is for the stories you never heard about in school, the ones that were systematically buried, erased, manipulated, silenced, or stolen. It's a call to our collective memory, an invitation and a homecoming to the stories we carry in our veins. Every story we tell and every truth we speak helps us understand how we got here. Come build community with us. Let...