Online educator @paulnmatthis on Palestine, queer SWANA history, & more (double episode)

Queer Everything

My guest today is Paul Nabil Matthis, whom you can find on Instagram and TikTok as @paulnmatthis. Paul is an author, musician, social media educator (among other things).
Paul’s channel is great- he posts a variety educational videos, ranging from topics in middle eastern/SWANA history to nerdy videos about different percussion styles in the Arab world, to social justice topics, to history of science– and most recently, helpful content about what is happening right now in Palestine, which I particularly want to highlight as a resource.
In the videos, does things like breaking down confusing rhetoric, distinguishing between judaism and zionism, and offering historical background and down-to-earth, fact-based analysis of the situation. We'd originally recorded back in August, and then had another conversation in light of what has been happening in October 2023. I’m releasing both conversations today as a double-length episode, with the Palestine one first.

So in this first part we talk about what he has been posting about Palestine and the response he’s gotten, both positive and negative, and he also offers his thoughts as a social media educator on the kind of rhetoric we’re seeing, shadow bans and repression of posts, and his strategies for sharing on various platforms.
In the second part, we talk about the queer SWANA history TikTok series, his experiences living in the US and the middle east as a Syrian-American, and how he handles trolls on his social channels. And I couldn't resist asking him to bring out his drum and talk us through some of his favorite middle eastern beats.
With love, rage, and solidarity– Free Palestine.

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