Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore - June 13, 2025


This doctor is joining thousands to break the siege on Gaza (with Yipeng Ge)


Episode Stats


Length

43 minutes

Words per minute

144.43

Word count

6,270

Sentence count

87

Harmful content

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

10

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 when i was moving and you know driving up um with with my team to the rafa border crossing you could
00:00:06.480 see trucks like um kilometers upon kilometers of trucks that are just waiting to be let in and
00:00:12.720 israel denies these trucks systematically to let in food water fuel medical supplies
00:00:19.920 once i got in though and it was a very lengthy kind of ministry administratively like slow
00:00:25.680 process and once we finally got into the other side immediately it feels like another world and
00:00:34.260 I've had other colleagues describe it as post-apocalyptic like parts of Gaza have been
00:00:42.060 completely flattened there are people who previously lived there go back and walk around
00:00:49.500 and you don't even recognize there's no streets anymore so there's no landmarks there's no streets
00:00:54.720 So it's completely unrecognizable. And it feels like another world, because there's just nothing that I think compares to this kind of level of destruction with warfare that I don't think we've seen before, like so concentrated warfare on such a small piece of land.
00:01:15.040 And when we finally got to the hospital, the Emirati Maternity Hospital in Central Rafa, where we stayed the first night, we were immediately met with so much gratitude and warmth, despite how little they had.
00:01:34.860 And immediately what the Palestinian health care workers that greeted us, what they did was give us food and water, even though we actually came prepared with our own supply to be self-sufficient.
00:01:48.480 What they wanted to do was share, share a meal together, because this is how you how you greet people, how you treat people with with respect and dignity and kindness.
00:02:00.900 But the humanity of of of of these Palestinian health care workers to do this when when when now they they they they have so very little and they had so very little then as well.
00:02:13.300 um it's it's really um uh an indescribable kind of um situation and i i uh only finished my training 0.94
00:02:26.320 in family medicine around two and a half years ago um but so many others who i've encountered
00:02:32.680 and now worked with and befriended who have worked in many other conflict uh and war-torn
00:02:39.640 parts of the world say that this is like a standalone experience because i think so many
00:02:49.100 of us have not actually ever worked in a genocide hello i'm rachel gilmore your least favorite
00:03:00.800 person's least favorite journalist welcome to bubble pop the show where we talk about some of
00:03:06.220 the biggest headlines and juiciest news tidbits so you don't have to doomscroll. Today I am so
00:03:12.120 honored to have primary care physician Yipeng Ji on the show. We're speaking on Tuesday because
00:03:17.780 tomorrow Yipeng leaves to join people from around the world who are heading towards the Rafa crossing
00:03:24.520 in Egypt to break Israel's siege on Gaza. The goal this time isn't to enter Gaza but Yipeng
00:03:33.040 has done that before too. He was previously on the ground to provide aid and medical care.
00:03:38.980 He's got more strength of character in his pinky finger than most of our elected officials have
00:03:44.420 taken together. Because of that, I am honored to have Yipeng on the show. Yipeng, welcome to Bubble
00:03:51.120 Pop. Thank you for having me, Rachel. Of course, it is genuinely my honor. I am so in awe of your
00:03:58.980 courage and you know you're one of very few canadians who is genuinely a helper genuinely
00:04:07.220 trying to make this world a little less awful and people like you i think inspire a lot of hope so
00:04:11.860 i'm really grateful to have you here um could i ask you about what moment did you decide that
00:04:20.580 you wanted to join this march um yeah it was it was pretty recent uh it was maybe about like a
00:04:29.220 week a week and a half ago i was thinking about what more uh could i be doing um like from the
00:04:37.700 positionality that i that that i am in um the privileges that i hold um what more could i do
00:04:45.380 And I remember you covered our May 28th, 2025 press conference on the Hill.
00:04:52.960 We brought doctors who've recently worked in Gaza back in April, May of this year to talk about what they've seen.
00:05:03.860 And that's actually not the first time we held a press conference like that.
00:05:06.860 We did one back in November of last year as well, which was very differently received.
00:05:11.860 we had no media present and this time we had a packed media room and i think it just really
00:05:16.940 speaks to um genocide is over time um becomes unavoidable uh to to address um and now we're
00:05:27.260 20 months into this ongoing genocide in gaza where canada is wholly complicit and i remember
00:05:34.080 meeting with ministers members of parliament um that afternoon and i just kept thinking like what
00:05:40.680 more can we do right like we've already we've done these press conferences we've done petitions
00:05:45.100 we're still doing petitions we're doing letters we're doing direct actions we're doing marches
00:05:49.180 protests and we're doing research to find out which companies are heavily complicit um or for
00:05:56.600 example um just over the past few days we learned that 18.9 million dollars of um uh weapons and
00:06:05.640 technology um were approved by canada for these canadian companies to sense all those things um
00:06:11.960 worth that much money to israel just in the last year alone even though even though you know the
00:06:17.240 foreign affairs minister said we have this quote unquote uh two-way arms embargo which we in fact
00:06:22.440 we truly do not um you know so so and and i remember hearing these things um from members
00:06:31.240 of parliaments especially within the liberal party that they were um kind of following what
00:06:37.400 global affairs canada and um minister foreign affairs had told them which were actually in
00:06:43.640 fact blatant lies this entire time and so so the more that i thought about what more can i do what
00:06:49.320 more can i do and um this uh global march to gaza has been mobilizing for weeks on and months now
00:06:57.160 to to see it as a reality and i think it also came at a time when i'm just seeing
00:07:02.360 um this most recent freedom flotilla you know there's been so many freedom flotillas
00:07:07.640 um over the years um unfortunately unsuccessful to actually bring aid to directly to gaza but i
00:07:14.680 think it's inspiring to see ordinary citizens people of conscience of the world do what they
00:07:21.320 can within their power to break the siege and blockade that is um absolutely necessary to end
00:07:29.720 the famine and the starvation that is like plaguing the entire gaza strip as we speak
00:07:35.720 where we're really seeing um the end stages of of genocide of an extermination of an entire peoples
00:07:43.480 when the restriction on food aid in particular is just so extreme where you know my own colleagues
00:07:50.200 that i'm in touch with i don't know you know at that press conference i mentioned i just don't
00:07:55.320 know what to text back to them when they're they can't feed their children when they can't find the
00:08:00.280 food to feed their children um and so this this really feels like a pivotal moment for a lot of us
00:08:07.080 to do what we can to bring attention to um the rafa border crossing where like thousands of trucks
00:08:16.120 still lay at the borders and israel denies these trucks from entering and um
00:08:24.040 it really feels like this pivotal pivotal moment of like if if we don't get these things in um
00:08:31.160 it's just a catastrophic unbearable situation in gaza with the the extreme loss of life that's
00:08:36.760 already taken place and and like there's still people to be saved still people to receive the
00:08:43.720 aid but if if we if if we struggle to kind of really meet this moment where where we're at
00:08:53.480 um to really uh use um the power of of people and and to effectively organize and show
00:09:00.680 the people of conscience of the world really um are against this against the forced starvation
00:09:05.800 of an entire population against collective punishment of an entire population um who just
00:09:11.880 deserve to live and to live with dignity and to live with um uh and to receive humanitarian aid
00:09:18.760 with dignity which is absolutely what's not happening with the gaza humanitarian foundation
00:09:23.960 which is just um set up by the israelis and americans as um a continuation of the genocide
00:09:30.680 kind of enablement apparatus as others have put it and so i think it's a culmination of seeing
00:09:35.400 all these things and also thinking okay what more can i do and i've been really grateful to also
00:09:40.440 like work in clinics um where i've uh very like give them gave them not a lot of notice but they
00:09:47.240 were really supportive in allowing me to to to to leave my patients here in canada for a short
00:09:52.440 period of time so that i can do this and um hopefully um it's it does something
00:10:01.000 i i there might be some people listening unfortunately probably quite a few because
00:10:05.800 I was Googling to read up on this march and there hasn't been a ton of coverage leading up to it within Canada.
00:10:14.200 So could you give a general sense to the listeners about like what this looks like, what the goal is and yeah, just walk us through the march itself?
00:10:24.580 I mean, the call itself came from the people of Gaza and ordinary citizens around the world who have been listening, have been watching the ongoing and unfolding genocide, took up that call to say, okay, this is something that we can materially do around the world to bring attention to the Rafa border crossing where aid is sitting on that other side of the border.
00:10:53.760 And all it needs to do is to enter. And that saves thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if not, you know, over a million lives. And there were folks in Canada that took up this call. And some of them, I know quite well, because they're based in Ottawa, and they have been very active in other direct actions and organizing around Palestine.
00:11:19.640 and uh it's it's it's a collective effort from a lot of different folks from a lot a lot of
00:11:25.940 different walks of life and um we have uh i believe like almost 100 people uh coming from
00:11:33.140 across the country in canada and we only make up um one country delegation and i believe there's
00:11:40.740 um people from uh 84 different countries around the world so we're expecting around 4 000 people
00:11:46.980 just from this global march to Gaza alone
00:11:50.720 because there's also the Sumud land convoy from Tunisia
00:11:55.640 where we're expecting about 2,000 people
00:11:57.760 and they've actually just left Tunisia
00:12:01.220 and are probably crossing into Libya right now
00:12:04.340 so that they can get into Egypt.
00:12:06.620 And the goal will be to all collectively move together 0.56
00:12:09.520 from Egypt to the Egyptian-Palestinian border,
00:12:15.440 the Rafa border.
00:12:16.980 over the next few days um so and i i do think like it's a testament to how um people are really
00:12:25.900 demanding um what more can they do what what can they do to support and also um know that there's
00:12:32.160 a lot of privilege and um the positions that we are where we are in um a lot of people from
00:12:40.680 different countries hold certain passports where we're able to do this kind of organizing and
00:12:48.360 activism work and i think it's really an expression of using that privilege these things that are
00:12:57.320 afforded to us so that we can leverage that to be able to bring attention to the ongoing genocide
00:13:03.880 in gaza and in fact it's actually a responsibility to because that said genocide is only happening
00:13:10.680 because of complicit parties and states like the Canadian government and so there's a responsibility
00:13:15.560 for us to hold our governments to account. I'm glad you brought up the complicity of our
00:13:20.200 government because that's something that I've noticed you've really been driving home in the
00:13:26.280 press conferences I've seen you participate in and I think a lot of Canadians, one thing I've
00:13:29.880 noticed in response to at least my coverage is Canadians will say oh well what do they expect
00:13:35.320 us to do like we're just another country and could you explain canada's role and complicity
00:13:41.720 a little bit more i mean i know you touched on the arms that continue to or the weapons parts
00:13:47.160 that continue to be sold to countries who then sell it to israel but could you expand a little
00:13:51.640 bit more about or on canada's role in this i mean i think one of the most basic things that um
00:14:00.200 canada is responsible for is sounding the alarm when genocide is possibly taking place in the
00:14:08.840 world right because canada is a signatory to the geneva convention to prevent genocide it's not
00:14:14.120 even to stop it is to prevent it and yet we see genocide unfolding before our eyes and canada has
00:14:22.680 not only failed to prevent it to do every step that they can within their toolbox which there
00:14:27.560 are many including sanctions including suspending trade including breaking ties with complicit
00:14:38.280 like companies that are sending like putting those arms embargoes in place
00:14:44.920 and Canada has really done the bare minimum and has just kind of used some language that has
00:14:51.240 actually signaled to I think a lot of folks that oh Canada is actually not as complicit as the
00:14:56.760 the United States like that's a lot of the right word from members of Parliament for example which
00:15:02.320 is extremely disappointing when we have groups like World Beyond War for example that have done
00:15:08.000 the heavy lifting of doing this research as to what is truly happening with arms trade and so
00:15:15.060 I think it's really important for me to clarify that you know Minister Foreign Affairs Melanie
00:15:21.260 Julie last year, when she was in that role, said Canada had, you know, an arms embargo in place
00:15:27.220 now, which is in fact not true. What they did was pause new permits for weapons technologies
00:15:35.900 to Israel and suspend 30 or so permits, which only makes up a very small fraction of the permits
00:15:47.940 that allow technologies and weapons and whatever that go to Israel from Canada.
00:15:53.740 So around 88% of those existing permits are still in place.
00:15:59.220 And we can see that with the recent filings that were reported on just a few days ago,
00:16:04.380 that last year it was $18.9 million worth of technologies that were sent from Canadian companies to Israel,
00:16:15.780 Even though Israel is being taken to the highest levels of court for genocide by South Africa. And Canada hasn't done nearly enough to impose sanctions, to suspend free trade, to suspend these weapons technologies from going.
00:16:36.120 I think a really clear example for me is living in Ottawa. There's a company called Gas Stops that produces the engine sensors. And they're the sole manufacturing company for these engine sensors, by the way. And these engine sensors go to the US and go into the F-35 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin.
00:16:56.220 And these fighter jets are really expensive to make, and they're made on contract. So they're made as they're used and needed. And they're sent over to Israel from the US with Canadian parts. And then they get flown over Gaza by the Israeli military to drop the 2000 pound bombs that are killing families, women, children, men.
00:17:20.600 and and and to see those injuries to see the impacts of those things in the hospitals in
00:17:28.280 the clinics we have Canadian doctors who have documented that experience of caring for those
00:17:34.700 patients and so it becomes an obligation for for not only us Canadian doctors that have been there
00:17:41.100 but truly anyone who has a has has has eyes that that can see what's happening that has
00:17:48.060 you know a heart for for for understanding like our responsibility to end these kinds of
00:17:54.700 forms of complicity um to to to be able to pressure our um canadian government to to end
00:18:02.020 these kinds of transfers to also um put that diplomatic and political pressure on israel
00:18:07.620 because when that pressure gets put on israel they they do step back and we've seen it historically
00:18:13.540 over the years in the same ways that like if u.s um were to put any bit of pressure on israel
00:18:19.680 they they comply um because israel is this um settler colony that is um propped up by the west
00:18:28.920 um uh like uh the u.s canada you know the uk um and so uh these forms of complicity were also not
00:18:37.960 made overnight they've been made over decades but when things are so clear and are so
00:18:47.640 horrible and and so deplorable in this situation um you you would expect that um the policies um
00:18:57.960 will shift um to protect human life and unfortunately that's still not what we've seen
00:19:03.960 with the uh canadian government and and the last thing i'll just like i think highlight for for
00:19:10.200 everyday folks in canada is like these are our taxpayer dollars as well that help subsidize
00:19:16.520 these kinds of transfers of of weapons technology um these things happen in our backyards where
00:19:24.200 um just a few weeks ago cansec took place in ottawa which is um this arms national arms and
00:19:32.360 war technology trade show with many companies also based in israel for example that sell and buy other
00:19:42.280 weapons technologies and the technologies that they sell are field tested on palestinians in gaza
00:19:49.000 and and they're sold to other buyers and they are sold to governments and we have we had our
00:19:55.960 our new minister of defense, David McGinty,
00:20:00.940 who used to be my member of parliament
00:20:02.680 when I lived in Ottawa South,
00:20:04.160 like go to that conference, that trade show,
00:20:07.600 that weapons trade show and say,
00:20:09.840 oh, we're actually going to increase our military spending
00:20:12.620 and support more of you guys, these companies,
00:20:17.180 some of which are so heavily complicit
00:20:19.920 and directly involved in the genocide.
00:20:22.320 And so I think that a lot of Canadians
00:20:25.660 who are also bearing witness to what's happening in Gaza
00:20:29.120 and who know that genocide obviously is wrong
00:20:33.820 are saying not on our watch, right?
00:20:35.840 And are protesting, are writing their letters,
00:20:39.120 are organizing in a lot of different important ways
00:20:41.960 or supporting boycott, divestment, sanctions,
00:20:46.060 movements, calls to action,
00:20:48.220 so we can build the people power necessary
00:20:50.160 to end Canadian complicity.
00:20:51.740 yeah it's you know it's so um it's kind of incredible how you're running through a lot
00:20:58.520 of the questions I had for you because I think you've just gotten so good at communicating to
00:21:02.160 people like how they can help how they can get involved what the different roles are so
00:21:06.680 I really appreciate that um I I did want to ask you you mentioned the health care workers on the
00:21:15.560 ground in Gaza that we have Canadian health care workers who have provided testimony about what
00:21:20.400 they've seen and you are one of those doctors you have been there you have you have borne witness
00:21:27.260 to the genocide and I guess the first thing I wanted to ask you about that if you're comfortable
00:21:34.220 sharing um was could you just tell me about entering Gaza the first time what was that
00:21:42.560 process like what was like what did you see what did you smell what what interactions did you have
00:21:49.320 what was that entry like? I think it's important to mention, right, like to enter Gaza, and I
00:21:58.240 entered Gaza through the Rafa border crossing, which is between Egypt and Palestine. But Israel 0.75
00:22:03.840 still controls that flow. Even then, when I entered, and now what they did is occupied and 0.96
00:22:09.160 destroyed the Palestinian side of the Rafa border crossing. When I was moving and, you know, driving
00:22:15.600 up with with my team to the rafa border crossing you could see trucks like kilometers upon kilometers
00:22:23.520 of trucks that are just waiting to be let in and israel denies these trucks systematically to let
00:22:28.720 in food water fuel medical supplies once i got in though and it was a very lengthy kind of ministry
00:22:36.880 administratively like slow process and once we finally got into the other side immediately
00:22:43.920 it feels like another world and and i've had other colleagues describe it as post-apocalyptic
00:22:50.460 like parts of of gaza have been completely flattened there are people who previously
00:22:59.200 lived there go back and walk around and you don't even recognize there's no streets anymore so
00:23:05.600 there's no landmarks there's no streets so it's completely unrecognizable and it feels
00:23:11.300 um like another world um because there's just nothing that i think compares to this kind of
00:23:17.560 level of of destruction with warfare that i don't think we've seen um before like so concentrated
00:23:24.780 warfare on a such a small piece of land and um when when we were finally got to the um uh the
00:23:34.880 hospital the emirati maternity hospital in central rafa where we stayed the first night
00:23:38.700 um we were immediately met with so much like gratitude and warmth despite how little they
00:23:47.520 had and immediately what the palestinian health care workers uh that greeted us what they did
00:23:53.080 was give us food and water even though we actually came prepared with our own supply
00:24:00.300 to be self-sufficient what they wanted to do was share uh share a meal together um because this is
00:24:06.900 how you greet people, how you treat people
00:24:10.840 with respect and dignity and kindness,
00:24:14.380 but the humanity of these Palestinian healthcare workers
00:24:17.800 to do this when now they have so very little
00:24:24.360 and they had so very little then as well.
00:24:28.360 It's really an indescribable kind of situation.
00:24:34.000 situation and i i uh only finished my training in family medicine around two and a half years ago
00:24:43.120 but so many others who i've encountered and now worked with and befriended who have worked in
00:24:49.040 many other conflict uh and war-torn parts of the world say that this is like a standalone
00:24:58.400 um experience because i think so many of us have not actually ever worked in a genocide it's it's
00:25:07.040 truly um on on like it's incomparable to to to a lot of other things that are happening in this
00:25:14.720 world because of the concentration of bombardments but also that existing um blockade that uh pre-existed
00:25:23.120 the past few months, pre-existed October 2023, and was in place since 2007.
00:25:32.180 And so I remember meeting children who I thought were a much younger age than what they truly were,
00:25:39.140 but they were stunted from their growth because of the caloric limitations and caloric intake
00:25:46.180 um based off of um the the limitations of of aid that were being led in um which was a israeli
00:25:53.420 policy um that uh later came to light that that's what was happening and so um and this was prior to
00:26:01.500 the full blockade correct um that was i believe that was like part of the blockade part of the
00:26:08.060 2007 onwards uh block right so but it was before this one that everyone's so focused on
00:26:14.800 Yes, this blockade, I believe, has been since March of this year and also just absolutely like, like, like so very little has entered, I think, almost nothing entered. And then maybe about a week and a half ago, I think, a few trucks entered, which is like, absolutely nothing compared to what the entire population needs. And, and it entered in this way, where it was being delivered by
00:26:44.800 um the gaza humanitarian foundation which is um uh operated by americans and israelis and actually
00:26:53.780 american mercenaries um and and they they deliver aid in such an undignified way for um people to
00:27:01.500 just um because people are desperate people are starving to just to fight over this little amount
00:27:07.580 And then you have a degree of complete civil breakdown, which has happened because Israel has destroyed all these different facets of life and civil infrastructure and targeted the people that keep some degree of order also in the Gaza Strip.
00:27:31.200 And so by them doing this, they've also manufactured and created this issue of improper aid distribution, and they've also shot and fired into the crowd.
00:27:48.680 And actually, it's been targeted because we've had accounts from doctors that the patients that they receive are shot in the chest and shot in the head.
00:27:58.120 And so these are kill shots. 0.74
00:27:59.120 They are meant to kill. 1.00
00:28:00.180 On civilians. 1.00
00:28:01.960 On civilians. On civilians that are grabbing food aid for their families. And there are ways to deliver aid that are dignified, that are in alignment with humanitarian principles that the United Nations, that other humanitarian organizations are accustomed with.
00:28:22.180 with. And previously, that's what was happening to a degree. But a lot of these aid, food aid
00:28:32.660 kitchens have completely run out of supplies, and they've ceased their operations over the past few
00:28:40.880 weeks. And so none of them have been in operation now for weeks. I think it's just so striking that
00:28:47.920 um i think a lot of people see the degree of devastation now and the degree of starvation now
00:28:55.360 and forget that so much of this has been going on for so long so i think that's it's very striking
00:29:01.600 to hear you describe children whose growth was stunted from caloric deficits due to blockade
00:29:07.100 that has been in place for so much longer than i think a lot of you know people in the western world
00:29:12.600 are cognizant of and I think that's our responsibility to educate ourselves on
00:29:17.320 was there anything else when you were in Gaza an experience specifically
00:29:23.960 that stuck with you are you one that you're comfortable sharing I mean I think
00:29:32.420 just a lot of the interactions that I have were really profound especially like the sharing of
00:29:41.320 food. Like, we had many great conversations over over food. And I remember being in the middle of
00:29:51.300 a really busy clinic and the primary care medical point that I was working at. And one of the nurses
00:29:58.820 handed me a bowl of hot lentil soup to kind of keep my energy up and really gave like didn't
00:30:06.940 take no for an answer. Um, so, so it was, it was really, really kind to kind of have these kinds of,
00:30:13.100 um, interactions. And, and I remember like in the evenings when we would like debrief about
00:30:19.180 like the cases that we saw or, or like, um, you know, like to kind of connect on a human level
00:30:25.320 rather than just talk about, uh, medical cases, the, the, the Palestinian healthcare workers that
00:30:31.760 worked with like they wanted to do so much more for us they wanted to show us the beach um which
00:30:37.120 we didn't get to see because we would be stuck um on the medical compound because somehow our lives
00:30:43.600 right mattered more than um uh local palestinians um and uh they would want us they wanted to show
00:30:52.640 us their things the things like their home uh in the north for example and and actually properly
00:30:57.520 cook for us. And so we were dreaming of this world where Gaza would be rebuilt and we would
00:31:06.720 come back one day and share a meal with them, a meal that they cooked with the things that
00:31:16.340 they gathered in the home that they cherish with the people that they love. And we were dreaming
00:31:22.260 of this um like the next day after the genocide were to end and
00:31:28.700 and and i think um i i'm not sure if if if a lot of folks are still dreaming about that
00:31:37.720 um i know that there have been children that um dream of actually dying um dying with their
00:31:44.740 family for example and not being the the sole survivor um people dream of just having food now
00:31:51.080 um so it's it's it's it feels really difficult for me to also like reminisce about some of these
00:31:59.640 memories knowing that um uh it my my energy should really go to to um the actions that are necessary
00:32:08.820 to to end um the famine and to stop the genocide um but uh it's uh it it's um kind of also
00:32:20.840 indescribable like there's some things that happen in our life um you know for example just
00:32:25.780 like being here in canada um you know sometimes like just going going to work and work in the
00:32:30.920 primary care clinic like here like some days just feel like every other day and and i would say
00:32:37.420 the short time that I was there in Gaza I was only there for a week like there's so many things like
00:32:45.540 every day that happened that really stick with me and I think will stick with me for the rest of my
00:32:50.660 life just because of how profound people's humanity and generosity were despite everything
00:33:01.960 that they've been through that they would um scroll on their phones to show me their the the
00:33:10.440 the photos of um like their their past lives before the genocide and they would show me
00:33:17.000 people that they love the things that they love doing for example like a i learned that there was
00:33:21.080 like a soccer tournament um that was actually named after rachel corey um the american activist
00:33:26.680 that was uh killed um by israel and this um soccer tournament and seeing all the the the photos from
00:33:34.840 those um days over the years to see the things that they loved and then they would kind of come
00:33:40.600 across photos of of neighbors of friends of family members and they would just tell me oh this person
00:33:47.000 was killed this person was killed in this way this person was killed with their family and
00:33:51.160 And the way in which every single person has been touched by the genocide in Gaza in some way, people are also, I think, really hungry for their stories and their narratives to be told.
00:34:06.760 because with how Zionism has so thoroughly infiltrated Western colonial states
00:34:21.360 in upholding that narrative of Zionism as a good thing in Palestine
00:34:30.740 when its material experience on the Palestinian indigenous land and body
00:34:36.080 is genocide is is land grabs is um resource extraction um is apartheid and occupation um to
00:34:47.360 to to to see all of that and to know that that is is is the reality um is um yeah there's there's
00:34:58.880 so i i mentioned that because i think because of the the the propaganda to uphold zionism
00:35:05.280 people are so hungry to tell their narratives because it's it's not just um a uh uh you know
00:35:12.800 uh a war against humanity itself but it is it is it's a war of narratives um it's an attack on on
00:35:19.920 whose narratives are able to be told in this world without a degree of censorship without a degree
00:35:27.360 of um uh twisting of of words and and experiences um and so uh i think um and i also experienced
00:35:37.120 that in the west bank when i visited the west bank um a year before i visited uh gaza um and
00:35:45.840 uh there's just so many stories um that everyone holds in palestine and especially palestinians
00:35:52.320 in the diaspora and and i feel so so privileged to to be able to hear those stories and then
00:35:59.200 obviously the um responsibility is to act is to not just dwell and um feel sorry um no no it's not
00:36:11.920 um like sympathy or empathy it's it's actually solidarity um that what palestinians deserve
00:36:20.000 when they share these narratives with us i feel like also a big part of that is you know you feel
00:36:29.600 the need to share these stories because we have placed this unfair burden on palestinians that
00:36:35.040 they have to be um perfect victims that they have to be worthy of humanity they have to you know 0.97
00:36:42.800 it's the immediate stripping of empathy for people being killed by israel because oh well 0.97
00:36:51.440 they threw a pebble oh well they said from the river to the sea it's just the the standard 0.84
00:36:59.120 that palestinians are forced to reach to get any basic humanity and sympathy anything 0.94
00:37:08.560 from western media western governments is so disproportionate and it is unfair that a voice
00:37:17.140 as valuable as yours has to spend your time on podcasts like mine telling these stories and
00:37:25.060 justifying to the world why these people's lives have value why even if you know what i think
00:37:33.640 Palestinians who aren't kind deserve to live to Palestinians who are selfish and greedy and flawed, they all deserve to live their lives in peace with their land, their family. 0.74
00:37:47.860 and you know i i just it's it's a really deeply messed up situation and yipeng i'm so grateful 0.84
00:37:57.360 for you um for coming on here and for doing this unfair work of spreading telling these stories and
00:38:05.360 trying to drag some humanity out of people listening the world the world is an unfair
00:38:13.660 place and and i i i'll just say you know like um i i i think a lot about like how much space
00:38:20.460 do i take up and like whether or not to to speak about you know uh speak at a certain thing or with
00:38:27.660 a certain person about this issue um because i am non-palestinian and and when in the ways in which
00:38:34.940 um my voice and my narrative has been um highlighted i think about how it's also um
00:38:45.100 to a degree uh an experience of anti-palestinian racism where it has to be uh my experience that
00:38:52.540 gets platformed when we have like so many palestinian narratives um in the diaspora
00:38:59.260 in palestine who document and share what they experience and and this kind of dehumanization
00:39:09.340 has also played a significant role um here uh affecting indigenous peoples first nations
00:39:15.020 inuit metis and that's also been actually a huge catalyst for why i went into medicine and public
00:39:20.060 health to be to begin with and and i've thought a lot about that too like what is my role what
00:39:25.500 is my role as a non-indigenous person working in this space of decolonizing health care what does
00:39:30.380 that mean what does that look like and and the the thing that i constantly land on is meaningful
00:39:36.620 solidarity work and and who can really kind of gauge that is the people that you're organizing
00:39:42.860 with and the people and the communities that are most affected by structural oppression um and so
00:39:49.100 that let that be our compass always is to recenter um the people of palestine the people of gaza who
00:39:56.620 continue to face famine to face starvation to face genocide uh bankrolled by our canadian government
00:40:06.140 thank you so much i um no i went a little over the uh the time that you have today because
00:40:12.060 you're getting ready to leave so i i don't want to i have so many more things i want to ask you
00:40:16.780 but i don't want to be selfish and keep you any longer so um i just want to thank you so much and
00:40:22.060 ask you where can people follow you where can they keep up with the work that you're doing and the
00:40:27.100 amplification that you're doing yeah thank you for having me rachel i mean i try to share updates um
00:40:34.220 on x even though um it's uh it is what it is it is what it is i mean it's um yeah nazi leads um
00:40:42.460 the company right now um and uh on instagram even though meta once again
00:40:50.860 you just kind of have to you know use them consciously yeah and also blue sky as well
00:40:57.660 yeah i i'm not super tech savvy to to be on you know anything other than that but i'll try to
00:41:04.460 learn some tricks to to expand my social media repertoire but i think people also
00:41:09.020 I think people forget that, like, I work in a clinic most of the time, and I'm like, not on social media all the time.
00:41:19.040 I have a day job. I do other work. I do other organizing and whatever.
00:41:23.920 So, but I appreciate your coverage and your journalistic efforts that actually uphold a level of ethics and standards that I am not seeing from a lot of other journalists these days.
00:41:39.020 Thank you. That's really kind of you. And thank you for doing the work so that we have stories
00:41:45.380 to tell and amplifying them. I think I speak for everyone listening to this when I say
00:41:51.400 we hope your march is incredibly successful and that we'll be watching and standing in
00:41:58.880 solidarity with you thank you thank you for listening to this week's episode of bubble pop
00:42:09.400 i'm rachel gilmore your least favorite person's least favorite journalist if you enjoyed this
00:42:13.920 episode consider subscribing to bubble pop on youtube patreon sub stack or wherever you like
00:42:19.240 to listen you can also find me on tiktok instagram twitch and blue sky i'd like to say a special
00:42:24.780 thank you to hans vivian wenzel for creating the incredibly groovy music for bubble pop you can
00:42:29.300 find more of his stuff on spotify under the artist name hans that's a lowercase h with an exclamation
00:42:35.420 mark thank you again for spending this time with me the only reason i can tell these stories and
00:42:40.460 do this for a living is because of your support so thank you and i'll see you next time
00:42:54.780 Thank you.