The idea that the Palestinian people have only been able to persist because of their religion is ridiculous to me. They are resisting because colonialism, apartheid and genocide are very bad things to which nobody would want to be subjected, not because of Islam. If Palestinians were atheists, is he suggesting that they wouldn't have the strength or the will to resist? Would their lack of a belief in the supernatural turn them into doormats for Isn'treal?
I like Hakim's content, but his position on religion is quite frustrating. He is a Muslim first and a Marxist second. Also, Joram van Klaveren is still a right-winger.
The conspiracy nutter in me is starting to think that the boys on the Deprogram have had someone "persuade" them to be less openly Marxist. They really do seem to be going backwards in their analysis. I guess that's kind of inevitable when something like this happens, a big financially successful socialist project under a capitalist system will challenge the creators in a lot of ways, and they wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds them, even if it is the hand of capital.
Along with them now accepting guests on the show that are explicitly liberal, duganist, or soccdem at best, things have been getting really fishy.
Sadly, I think they're trying to be "more marketable" and that includes abandoning their original principles. This is something else entirely.
I think this is related though, as others have said, Hakim is a Muslim first and a socialist second, and I do think that would've played a role in him being ok with the podcast being less actively Marxist and more marketable.
Disappointing.