Your podcast discovery platform
Curious minds select the most fascinating podcasts from around the world. Discover hand-piqd audio recommendations on your favorite topics.
piqer for: piqd Boom and bust Climate and Environment Global finds Globalization and politics Health and Sanity Technology and society Doing Good Deep Dives
Malia Politzer is the executive editor of piqd.com, and an award-winning long-form journalist based out of Spain. She specializes in reporting on migration, international development, human rights issues and investigative reporting.
Originally from California, she's lived in China, Spain, Mexico and India, and reported from various countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Her primary beats relate to immigration, economics and international development. She has published articles in Huffington Post Highline, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue India, Mint, Far Eastern Economic Review, Foreign Policy, Reason Magazine, and the Phoenix New Times. She is also a regular contributor to Devex.
Her Huffington Post Highline series, "The 21st Century Gold Rush" won awards from the National Association of Magazine Editors, Overseas Press Club, and American Society of Newspaper Editors. She's also won multiple awards for feature writing in India and the United States.
Her reporting has been supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Institute For Current World Affairs, and the Global Migration Grant.
Degrees include a BA from Hampshire College and MS from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where was a Stabile Fellow at the Center for Investigative Journalism.
Muslims And Anti-Sharia Activists Meet, Armed, At A Dairy Queen To Talk Fears About America's Future
This article follows two sets of protagonists: A group of Muslims in Texas, and a group of Islamophobic activists. The meeting has the potential to be extremely volatile: Both groups are armed, and both feel extremely threatened by the other. The Muslims fear for their and their communities' safety; they worry about increased discrimination and targeted violence. The "anti-sharia activists" feel threatened by Islam and equate it with terrorism.
This article follows the meeting, each of the groups, and what happens next. It's a well-reported look at some of the fundamental tensions that are percolating not just in the United States, but all over the world in the wake of an increased number of terrorist attacks by extremist groups, and the confusion of the difference between Islamism, terrorism, and Islam.
What I like about this piece is how the author, Robert Samuels, attempts to understand the perspective of each groups. However, I do think that he might have gone a little too far — Muslims (those who practice the faith) and Islamophobic groups should, in my opinion, not be placed on equal footing; one is a religion, and another a racist, extremist group. Having said that, there is a need to understand where the latter group is coming from, if such extremist thought is to be mitigated — and Samuels does a good job of delving into each perspective.
