The City’s Infrastructure after COVID-19 and the History of Palestine and Israel

In this week’s episode of JustLove, we will first have a conversation with the president of the New York State and the New York City Building and Construction Trades Councils on America’s need to invest in our infrastructure in the wake of COVID-19 and the current economic crisis. Then, we will have a conversation with the author of the award-winning book: “The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance: 1917 to 2017” on the history of the conflict between Palestine and Israel and how that history impacts recent events in the region.

Gary LaBarbera is the president of both the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York – comprising local affiliates of 15 national and international unions representing over 100,000 working men and women in New York City, and the New York State Building and Construction Trades Council comprised of 15 Local Building Trade Councils, and 135 Local Unions representing 200,000 Tradespeople across New York State. This week, Gary LaBarbera shares with us a bit about his background in the labor movement, America’s need to invest in our infrastructure in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, and his recent efforts to highlight the issues of worker safety in the construction industry and the need for more robust wage theft protection legislation.

Prof. Rashid Khalidi, Ph.D. is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, and the Co-Editor of the Journal of Palestinian Studies, as well as the author of the book “The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance: 1917-2017” which won the Middle East Monitor’s 2020 “MEMO” Book Award. In today’s show, Prof. Khalidi shares with us a bit about his book as it details the history of the conflict between Palestine and Israel, and how this history impacts events in the region today including the violence last month.

Listen now: