Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or http://www.resonancefm.com/ (worldwide) This week show is an adaptation from Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, a programme on KPFA radio, featuring a conversation with Sohrab Behdad , co-author of " Class and Labor in Iran : Did the Revolution Matter? " and the Iraqi poet and novelist Sinan Antoon reading from his recently published book of poems, "Baghdad Blues".

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or http://www.resonancefm.com/ (worldwide) Obituary : More celebrated abroad than in his own country, Yousssef Chahine tried every film genre, from historical epic to musical comedy. The Egyptian director, who died last Sunday, 27 July in Cairo, received the lifetime achievement award on the fiftieth anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. Jean Renoir once remarked that in the work of his Egyptian fellow film director Youssef Chahine, "reality is always enchanting." The recent bombing that rocketed Turkey is only another symptom of a wider crisis in the country's socio-political secene of the last 4 decades. Cihan Tugal is a Turkish analyst who teaches sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. According to Tugal, the AKP is more a market fundamentalist party than an Islamic fundamentalist one. In this interview he draws a distinction between the Kemalists and the conservatives and provides the backgr

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or http://www.resonancefm.com/ (worldwide) Walid Siti's exhibition : Land on Fire . Walid Sitti is an Iraqi-Kurdish painter and printmaker based in Britain. Sitti's subjects are his experiences of war, exile, pain and loss. Conversation with the artist and the curator Rose Issa at Leighton House Museum. Hadani Ditmars reading from her book Dancing in the No-fly Zone: A Woman's Journey Through Iraq . Ditmars' book (chosen by the Toronto Globe and Mail as one of 100 best and most influential books of 2005) recounts her time in Iraq from 1997 until the autumn of 2003. Music by David Ferrard. Iranian court upholds death sentence against teacher trade unionist .

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or www.resonancefm.com (worldwide) Mitra Tabrizian . This is that Place : The first major UK exhibition (at Tate Britain) of work by Mitra Tabrizian, an Iranian-British photographer and film-maker. The artist talks to MEP about her work. Hala Mohammad, Monzer Masri, Rasha Omran and Lukman Derky visit the UK for events at the Ledbury Poetry Festival and at the London Review Bookshop. Little is known in the UK of literary life in Syria, but there’s an extraordinarily vibrant cultural and literary scene. Interviews and more. A coup plot in Turkey?

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or www.resonancefm.com (worldwide) Houssam Hamalawy on Egypt. Based in Cairo, blogger, activist and journalist Houssam dissects the workers' strikes and and forms of protests that have swept Egypt since year 2000. Photographer and activist Farah Kobaissy documents the role played by women in the movement. More signs of Israeli-US preparations for attacking Iran. In Mashhad, second largest city in Iran, over 8000 people protested last month against inflation and the government. Listen to the programme

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide Islam and Islamic Civilisation: An overview by Talat Ahmed. Report: Iraq social and refugee crisis is worsening. Listen to the programme

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide The revolt of the mining area of Gafsa, Tunisia . Morocco : The town of Sidi Ifni is under siege. Britain : Brown assures Bush more troops for Afghanistan and no Iraq withdrawal. The Paris and Turin book fairs and Israel's participation : To boycott or not to boycoytt - culture and politics. Listen to the programme

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide AN ISRAELI IN PALESTINE - Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel is a book by Jeff Halper and a publication of Pluto Press, 2008. "An Israeli in Palestine records Halper's journey 'beyond the membrane' that shields his people from the harsh realities of Palestinian life to his 'discovery' that he was actually living in another country: Palestine. " Jeff Halper, an Israeli Professor of Anthropology, has been a leading figure within the Israeli peace movement for over thirty years, and the head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). An interview. Professor Norman Finkelstein, an American Jewish scholar known for his trenchant criticism of Israeli policy, was detained and interrogated by Israel’s security forces, Shin Bet, for 24 hours at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on May 23, denied entry into Israel and deported back to Amsterdam where he

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide In the fourth part of Israel/Palestine (1948-2008): From the 'Red House' to the Siege of Gaza, Joel Kovel, author of Overcoming Zionism: Creating a single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine (Pluto Press 2007) and editor-in-chief of Capitalism Nature Socialism talks about his experience as a Jew and elaborates on issues like the linkage between Zionism and capital, class struggle and nationalism. Also in this week show: "Peace" talks with Syria and army chief becomes Lebanon's new president. Listen to the programme

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide In The Myths of Zionism John Rose shows how "Zionism, a powerful political force, is based in mythology; ancient, medieval and modern. Rose argues that, as Zionism is a living political force, these myths have been used to justify very real and political ends – namely, the expulsion and continuing persecution of the Palestinians." Pakistan - "unravelling of the democratic farce." Mai Ghossoub (1952-2007): Anti-establishment, anti-war, ardently feminist and a lover of literature, art, jazz and belly dancing, she became an internationally acc­laimed writer, playwright, poet and sculptress.

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide In a second part of Israel/Palestine (1948-2008): From the 'Red House' to the Siege of Gaza, we listen to the Israeli historian Dr. Moti Golani speaking on: 'Wars Do Not Just Happen'. The Most prominent and controversial argument that Golani presents seems to be that "peace has not always headed Israel's list of priorities and war has not always headed its neighbours' list of priorities." What is confessionalism? What is Hizbollah? What has made it popular? What gave birth to such organisation that the US ruling class considers terrorist? What is its programme? Is Hizbollah challenging the power structure in Lebanon? Lara Deeb, a cultural anthropologist, assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of California-Irvine and author of "An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi‘i Lebanon". Listen to the programme Related:

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide Israel/Palestine (1948-2008): From the 'Red House' to the Siege of Gaza. Part 1: "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" by the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. Torture and the Twilight of Empire: from Algiers to Baghdad by Marnia Lazreg, professor of sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. "When empire is in decline, does the use of torture, or the motivations behind it, change? For Marnia Lazreg, what the French colonial forces did to people in Algeria during that nation's war of independence in the 1950s speaks volumes about the relationship between torture, power, empire, and even democracy. Lazreg also draws parallels between French colonial conduct then and US military conduct today." Part of an interview broadcast by Against the Grain on Pacifica Radio. Listen to the programme Listen to the interview with Marnia L

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT)104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide Seven months after Israeli warplanes destroyed a building in Syria’s eastern desert, the Bush administration has released intelligence purporting to prove that Damascus was building a nuclear reactor at the site. Why was the silence? Syria denies that the building housed a nuclear reactor “What did Israel bomb in Syria?” asked American journalist Seymour Hersh. Why has the Bush administration chosen to release its intelligence now, seven months after the Israeli strike? Drug Dealing in Lebanon: tribal drug lords, addiction, Hizbollah and Israel. Pakistan: Pakistan has been plagued by shortages and a crisis of basic necessities of life for a long time, but the situation exploded on the eve of the last elections while General Musharraf and his team were blowing the trumpet about "unprecedented economic development". Listen to the programme Related: US Intelligence on Syrian Reactor At H

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT)104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide US military tightens siege of Sadr City as cleric warns of 'open war': an analysis . Professor Gilbert Achcar on tribalism in Iraq, nationalism, fundamentalism and barbarisms . Gilbert Achcar is from Lebanon, where he lived until 1983. He authored several books on international politics and the Middle East, including “The Clash of Barbarisms” and “Eastern Cauldron”. He teaches political science at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. Listen to the programme Related: US Military Tightens Siege of Sadr City... Eleven Theses on the Resurgence of Islamic Fundamentalism

Sunday between noon and 1pm (GMT) 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide War on Terror, Inc. Corporate Profiteering from the Politics of Fear by Solomon Hughes (Verso, 2008). "Who is behind companies that reap the dividend of war? How close are they to our political decision-makers? Do they actually deliver what they are contracted to deliver, and at a cost-effective price? " Iraq: 5 Years On. "How the Media Sells War and Why?" From a public meeting called by Media Workers Against the War. Speakers include: Nick Davies , an award-winning investigative reporter (the Guardian): "Our media have become mass producers of distortion." And Dhar Jamail , independent journalist and author of Beyond the Green Zone . Related: War on Terror, Inc. Review Flat Earth News by Nick Davies Other: "Our Reign of Terror, by the Israeli Army"

Wednesday between 9pm and 10pm (GMT) Sunday between noon and 1pm 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide Underbelly Egypt's Neoliberal Agenda: IBSF, immiseration and struggle, bread and gathering dissent. The European Union and Turkish Accession - Human Rights and the Kurds ( Pluto Press 2008 ), including a conversation with the co-author Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of Kurdish Human Rights Project. Listen to the programme Related: Video: " Protesters face Egyptian riot police " Clashes in Egypt's Strike Stand-off Underbelly Egypt's Neoliberal Agenda

Wednesday between 9pm and 10pm (GMT) Sunday between noon and 1pm 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan . In The Lemon Tree , Sandy Tolan tells the big-picture story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the parallel, very personal story of Bashir and Dalia. An interview conducted by C. S. Soong, Against the Grain programme on KPFA (Pacifica) Radio. Listen to the programme Related: Reviews of The Lemon Tree

Wednesday between 9pm and 10pm (GMT) Sunday between noon and 1pm 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide Iraq: "The Politics of the Local" - an interview with Charles Tripp, professor of Middle East Studies at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. "Iraq may fall into a second violent civil war. Or it may become an imperial protectorate with a privileged military and sharp class divisions." Oil-linked Inflation Exacerbates Instability in the Middle East: Egypt : The Wave of Strikes Continues. Historic Strike by University Staff Israel : Arab and Jewish Women March for Jobs in Tel Aviv Listen to the programme Related: Iraq: " No, no to the new Dictatorship " Egypt: Historic Strike by University Staff Egypt's Doctors Take on Mubarak Arab and Jewish Women March in Tel Aviv Workers Protest in UAE and Egypt Other: "A Delusional War"

Wednesday between 9pm and 10pm (GMT) Sunday between noon and 1pm 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide Listen to the programme Iraq: Five Years On... Related: Charles Tripp and Jonathan Steele (audio) US Hypocrisy, and Worse, on Pakistan Democracy (I. Chernus) The War Economy of Iraq (Christopher Parker)-audio Endless War? (David Keen) - audio Interview with Greg Palast (audio) Interview with Ted Honderich (audio)

Wednesday between 9pm and 10pm (GMT) Sunday between noon and 1pm 104.4 FM (London) or http://www.resonancefm.com/ worldwide Listen to the programme The United States plotted the armed overthrow of the Hamas government elected by the Palestinian people in January 2006, according to “ The Gaza Bombshell ”, an article based on leaked documents and interviews with key players in the Bush administration that was published in the latest edition of the US magazine Vanity Fair . Middle Eastern soundscapes: A concert by Al-Finjaan group. Nizar Al-Issa and his group performed at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 11th of March 2008. Listen to the programme Related: The Gaza Bombshell US Plot to Overthrow Elected Palestinian Government Exposed Nizar Al-Issa - artist profile