On The Freedom Side LIVE, Thursday, 3/20 at 3pm ET/12pm PT, hosts Rania Khalek and Eugene Puryear are joined by special guests:
Mariam Barghouti, a journalist and policy analyst based in Ramallah, joins the show to discuss Israel’s resumption of its genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza, launched just a day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to face his corruption trial. Israel, backed by a green light from Trump, massacred over 400 people– marking one of the deadliest single-day death tolls in 17 months–destroying the ceasefire, while enforcing a total blockade of Gaza.
Craig Mokhiber, a human rights lawyer, joins the show to discuss the US’s airstrikes on Yemen. Trump’s bombardment follows Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement’s resumption of its blockade of Israel-bound ships in the Red Sea – a solidarity action for Gaza after Israel choked off all aid. Mokhiber explains how according to international law, all nations are expected to cut ties with the Israeli occupation and act to prevent genocide–yet the US is bombing Yemen for doing exactly that.
Dr. Anis Germany, a Lebanese medical doctor and political analyst, joins the show to discuss how HTS militants in Syria continue to occupy Lebanese territory and launch attacks on border towns, flouting a ceasefire meant to de-escalate clashes with Damascus’s forces. Dr. Germany will highlight how these assaults coincide with Israel’s intensifying attacks on Lebanon and their own disregard for ceasefire agreements, further inflaming tensions across the region
Zoe Alexandra, Editor of Peoples Dispatch, joins the show to discuss the Trump administration’s deportation of over 250 Venezuelan migrants to a notoriously torturous mega-prison in El Salvador, after paying $6 million to President Nayib Bukele. The Venezuelan migrants forcibly removed from the country and stripped of due process, Alexandra contextualizes this deeply inhumane and unprecedented escalation.
Walter Smolarek, Editor of Liberation News, joins the show to discuss the year-long stopgap funding bill signed by President Trump, which cuts $13 billion from “domestic spending” while adding $6 billion to defense spending and expanding tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Smolarek will explain how, as Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and public sector jobs face slashes, Trump and Elon Musk are fueling a massive wealth transfer to corporate America.