Just Published: BAD COUSINS Episode 1

Episode 1 of BAD COUSINS has just been published. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the web, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What’s in Episode 1?

Hi all, Matan here again.

What are the Abraham Accords? There was a lot of hyperbole going around when they were signed in Washington DC in September 2020, and the dust hasn’t really settled since. What’s clear is that the promise of regional peace that the Accords were supposed to bring has not - to put it mildly - come to pass. 

Rather the opposite, in fact. Everyone from Yahya Sinwar to Jordan Peterson seems to agree that it was the Abraham Accords, and particularly the threat that they would be extended to Saudi Arabia, that set off the Hamas attack of October 7th 2023. That attack led to Israel’s brutal destruction of Gaza, and though at this moment there’s a ceasefire - we pray it holds - the Middle East is very far from peace indeed, Donald Trump’s comments notwithstanding.

For this episode, we brought political scientist Dana El-Kurd on board to talk about what the Abraham Accords actually are, and why they are such a disaster for the Palestinians and ordinary people throughout the Arab world. She pointed out how the shared interests enshrined in the accords are diametrically opposed to the Palestinian demand for national independence and the desire of people throughout the region for democratic self-rule, a desire that was crushed by the reaction to the Arab Spring.

There was an awkward moment when we sprang the premise of the show on Dana; she finds all this talk about religion off-putting and politically harmful. Fair enough! But the cringe is sort of the point, and we’re leaning into it. Whether we like it or not, people in the Middle East and elsewhere think about politics in the terms of this religious family drama. If you don’t believe us, tune into Episode 2.

Launch Event Nov 1

We’d love to see some of you in person for the launch! We’re kicking off the series at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien on Nov 1 at 19.30. A special thank you to the team there, LABA, and to our producer Guli Dolev-Hashiloni, who will master the ceremonies with his usual charm. No need to RSVP, it’s free. 

What’s coming in episode 2

Episode 2, provisionally titled “Pundits and Popes,” will come out in a couple of weeks. In this one we really get into what Abraham means to people in the Middle East as well as beyond (that means you, Ted Cruz). We accost some innocent folks in the Old City of Jerusalem with our silly questions and do a close reading of the Accords themselves, all to begin getting at the two major roles Abraham plays: as the patron of three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and as the grandfather of two nations - the bad cousins, the Arabs and the Jews.

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We’re publishing this show in partnership with The Diasporist, an online, bilingual magazine of political criticism, cultural analysis, and new writing from in and outside of Germany.

Check out for example Guli’s recent article about how a group of Jewish concentration camp survivors became pimps, drug dealers, and criminals in postwar Frankfurt.

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This is a new show and we need your help getting the word out about it! If this newsletter piqued your interest, or you’ve already heard the trailer or episode 1, please share them with your friends, neighbors and, it goes without saying, your cousins. That’s much more effective than liking us on various platforms, though that’s nice too.

We’ve also just started a Patreon page - you can support us from as low as 3 Euros per month here.

If you’re in Berlin, we would be really happy to see you at the launch, which will be at Künstlerhaus Bethanien Saturday (1 Nov) at 19:30. IMPORTANT: It’s the Bethanien at Kottbusser Damm 10, not the one at Mariannenplatz!

We’ll be discussing what Abraham can do for us with activist and scholar Yael Attia and cultural powerhouse Muhammad Jabali. There’ll be drinks and music of course.

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