Protest slogans are designed to pack a punch. They communicate potent emotions and persuasive ideas to the public while galvanizing activist allies. At 5 '11, wearing an elegant hijab over jet-black hair, Nerdeen Kiswani cuts an elegant figure. “From the river to the sea,” she cries, and the loyal group around her repeats it back, loudly. “Palestine will be free!” Again the repeated phrase comes back. “You are my amplifier,” she tells them.
Even while delivering her speech, the crowd loudly shouts each phrase after she says it. “We need allies who are gonna help us to reach a victory, not allies who are gonna tell us to be non-violent!”
Those at the front are holding up a long banner spread out in front of them that reads, “Globalize the Intifada.” Kiswani is the founder and chair of a Brooklyn-based group called Within Our Lifetime—which split off from other anti-Zionist groups she felt were not radical enough.
“We don't want no two-state, we want '48!”
She's performed this activist role many times on New York streets: in front of a memorial installation for the Nova music festival; at the campus protests in 2024, where she told the students, “we must escalate!” She's taken credit for popularizing the slogan “globalize the intifada” since 2021. When NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was asked how he felt about it, he first struggled to answer, then said “it's not language I use.” His fellow candidate and ally, Brad Lander, said it was hard not to hear it as meaning “open season on Jews.” Mamdani has been pictured on social media alongside Kiswani and her inner circle.
At least six men affiliated with Within Our Lifetime have ended up with jail sentences for hospitalizing Jews after planning and then bragging about violence in exposed private chats—even in public posts. The group was booted from Instagram (180k+ followers) when they posted New York City maps showing the locations of specific corporate, government, and Jewish organizations. The phrases, "Blood on their Hands," "Know your Enemy" and "Globalize the Intifada" were emblazoned above and below the maps.
"Intifada, intifada! Long live the intifada," Kiswani chanted close to Wall Street, outside the Nova music festival memorial, dedicated to the 378 civilians killed and 40 abducted. Dancing and drumming, protestors in the crowd chanted back, set off flares, and unfurled Hamas and Hezbollah flags.
Julian takes a deep dive into this controversial group in the context of an unfolding genocide in Gaza, and the long history of conflict, conquest, and religious extremism in the region. He asks fervent supporters of Israel, "How much do you know about the Nakba?" and pro-Palestine loyalists, "How much do you know about Hamas?"
Show Notes
NYT Profile on Nerdeen Kiswani
Kiswani Tweets About Using "globalize the intifada" since 2021
Kiswani Speaks At Columbia Encampment on Wedding Day
Columbia Group Influenced by WOL To Support Armed Resistance
Kiswani Wears Button Showing Hamas Spokesman
Hamas and Hezbollah Flags At NYC Nova Memorial Protest
Within Our Lifetime Posts Maps To IG
6 Charged in Antisemitic Mob Beating In Times Square
Sadaah Masoud Sentenced to 18 Months for 3 Antisemitic Assaults
Hamas Leaders Live in Luxury
Hamas Financial Network
Hamas Gunmen Hunt Down Fatah Rivals
Zohran Mamdani with WOL
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En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.