Olivia Katby is the North America coordinator for the Palestinian boycott divestment and sanctions, or BDS movement.

She's worked on a number of BDS campaigns, including successful ones targeting G4S, General Mills, Ben

& Jerry's, and Intel. She's also an active member of the Democratic Socialists of America,

where she's helped lead the organization's Palestine Solidarity and BDS work. In this episode,

we discussed the many ways people can support the BDS movement, the successes it's had already, and some misconceptions about it.

We have a fascinating discussion about the 2024 Olympics, as well as explore the questions for the Palestine's solidarity movement in the context of the upcoming presidential election.

It's an episode you do not want to miss, and above all, it's a call to action.

Olivia.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi.

Thank you so much for coming in person to our Empire Files podcast studio, Portland, Oregon, baby.

Yeah, very excited to be in the studio.

I'm very excited to have you here.

I'm excited to just be in Portland with you because you are an incredible activist.

You've been working on this issue for so long, Olivia.

I mean, you were the one who hosted Gaza Fights for Freedom

back, God, 2019 when we came here. I want to start by talking to you about how you got involved

in the pro-Palestine movement. Sure. So I'm half Arab. My dad is Jordanian Syrian,, and I have cousins that are half Palestinian. So I always knew about Palestine, but I grew up in rural Ohio where there was not really an opportunity to get involved at all. And I didn't really know anything about activism in general until I moved to Chicago in 2014.

That's when Israel was bombing Gaza at that time.

And I went and joined a march that was happening.

And there were like 20,000 people there in the streets of Chicago.

...