Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or resonancefm.com (worldwide) Around 20 delegates, including envoys from the UK, France, and Finland stood up and left the room at what was considered an anti-Semitic remark by the Iranian leader in his speech at the UN Conference against racism. The Iranian president called Israel "racist". I asked Joel Kovel, author of "Overcoming Zionism" (Pluto Press 2007) whether the Israeli state (and society) is racist.

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or resonancefm.com (worldwide) Obituary : the Arab Sundanese novelist Tayib Salih. "How the Jewish people were invented , from the Bible to Zionism" is the provocative title of the most recent book to be published in Israel by Shlomo Sand, a professor at Tel Aviv University. Khalil Bendib talked to Sand (from Voices of the Middle East and North Africa on KPFA Radio, Berkeley). The BBC, Jeremy Bowen and the pro-Israeli lobby .

The United States and its allies oppose North Korea and Iran having nuclear weapons. The argument against North Korea may well be the same argument used against Iran. The non-prolifeartion treaty was signed in1962, i.e. after the most powerful states, the richest and of the so-called “free-world”, had already acquired nuclear weapons. Many people in the richest capitalist countries believe that since their countries are free and democratic, inherently, when their governments intervene abroad, that intervention is aimed for “the greater good.” If on the other side these governments make “mistakes”, future elected governments would correct later “correct” those “mistakes”. Other people go further by arguing that their goverments have a sort of a historical duty to some countries that they had occupied in the past. But to what extent does the historical record of the Western states support such argument? The asnwer to these questions comes from a meeting that took place at Speakers’ Corne...

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or resonancefm.com (worldwide) The presidential elections in Algeria. Review of the animated documentary Waltz with Bashir . Obituary: The violinist and composer Abboud abdel Aal.

Eyal Weizman, author of Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation , talking to C S Sung. The interview was first broadcast on Against the Grain show on KPFA Radio.

History Professor Beshara Doumani will be in conversation with Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi about his new book entitled Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Hegemony in the Middle East. In his new work, Professor Khalidi dissects the crucial dynamics of power in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union as it played out in the Middle East, compellingly arguing that the intense rivalry between the U.S. and the USSR in the region set the stage for the tragic conflicts that have followed in its long wake. The full conversation was first broadcast by Voices of North Africa and the Middle East East on KPFA Radio, Berkeley, United States, on 4 February 2009.

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or resonancefm.com (worldwide) The class nature of the Iranian Revolution. According to Edward Mortimer of the Spectator the Iranian Revolution was "a genuine popular revolution in the fullest sense of the word: the most genuine, probably since 1917." But was it an Islamic revolution? Interviews with Torab Saleth from the journal Critique and member of Hands off the People of Iran (hopi) and Chris Moore from The Socialist Party (Britain). Listen to Torab Saleth Listen to Chris Moore

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or http://www.resonancefm.com/ (worldwide) The Iranian Revolution: Thirty Years on. In this first part two Iranians talk about the student movement and their experience. Dissection of Hillary Clinton's first visit to the Middle East as Barack Obama's Secretary of State.

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or http://www.resonancefm.com/ (worldwide) Interview with Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy , Professor of Nuclear Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy has been a faculty member at the Quaid-e-Azam University since 1973. In 1984 he received the Abdus Salam Prize for mathematics and is the author of 65 scientific research papers. He is chairman of Mashal, a non-profit organization which publishes books in Urdu on women’s rights, education, environmental issues, philosophy, and modern thought. Dr. Hoodbhoy has written and spoken extensively on topics ranging from science in Islam to education issues in Pakistan and nuclear disarmament. He produced a 13-part documentary series in Urdu for Pakistan Television on critical issues in education, and two series aimed at popularizing science. He is author of ’Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality’, now in 5 languages. In 2003, Dr. Hoodbh...

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or www.resonancefm.com (worldwide) An interview with Richard Seymour about his book "The Liberal Defence of Murder" (Verso, May 2008). "Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of prominent thinkers on the Left found themselves increasingly aligned with their ideological opposites. Over the last decade, many of these thinkers have become close to Washington; forceful supporters of the War on Terror, they help frame arguments for policymakers and provide the moral and intellectual justification for Western military intervention across the globe. From Kanan Makiya, one of the chief architects of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, to Bernard Henri-Levy’s advocacy of “humanitarian” intervention, The Liberal Defence of Murder traces the journey of these figures from left to right and explores their critical role in the creation of the new American empire. With wide-ranging testimony from many key figures on the...

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) In his recent book “Pakistan’s Other Story” (The Struggle Publication) Lal Khan has surveyed the events of 1968-69 in the wider perspective of what was happening in the world at that juncture of time. “He cites developments in Egypt, Indonesia, France (May 1968), the Italian “hot autumn”, Ireland, Mexico, Czechoslovakia, the USA and the Vietnam war and then revisits Partition, analyses the Communist Party and the degeneration of the left leadership and the early failure of democracy in Pakistan, the crossing over of the fence to the American side, the emergence of the new industrialists, institutionalization of corruption leading up to the 1965 war. This whole commentary reads like new history as it looks at developments from a window on the backside of the traditional façade.” ( The Dawn , 15 January 2009)From a book launch, Conway Hall, London. According to Media Workers Against War, there are eight rea...

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) An interview with Lenni Brenner. Lenni Brenner was born into an Orthodox Jewish family. His involvement with the Black civil rights movement began on his first day in the organized left, when he met James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality, later the organizer of the "freedom rides" of the early 60s. He was active in the mid 50s with Bayard Rustin, later the organizer of Martin Luther King's 1963 "I had a dream" March on Washington. He was an anti-war activist from the 1st days of the Vietnam war, speaking frequently at rallies in the Bay Area. Mr. Brenner is the author of 4 books, Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, The Iron Wall: Zionist Revisionism from Jabotinsky to Shamir, Jews in America Today, and The Lesser Evil: The Democratic Party. His books have been favorably reviewed in 10 languages by prominent publications, including the London Times, The London Review of Book...

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) Gaza : from a rally organized by Stop the War Coalition and Palestine Solidarity Campaign (UK). The rally took place on 8th of January in Friends Meeting House in London. Among those who spoke were: George Galloway MP and writer and fighter Tariq Ali. Obituary : Mansour Rahabani . Renowned Lebanese composer Mansour Rahabani died Tuesday 13th January following a bout of pneumonia, leaving a legacy of innovation in the music and theater of Lebanon and the wider Arab world. Read: Kafka Era of Double Standard

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) "Asked how he proposed dealing with "the murderous mentality" of the Palestinians, the Israeli historian Benny Morris replied, "Something like a cage has to be built for them. I know that sounds terrible. It is really cruel. But there is no choice. There is a wild animal there that has to be locked away one way or another." Gaza . Two very opposite views from a discussion between two public speakers, Speakers Corner, London 04 January 2009. Read: Robert Fisk 's article Read: The Gaza Bloodbath

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) Sounds from Agadir and Marrakech , Morocco. The recording was made between 19 and 24 December 2008. Listen to the show .

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) Pakistan may be the linchpin of the US's so-called war on terror, but it is also, as Tariq Ali notes, a wrecked country. Pakistan's neighbor Afghanistan is also devastated; the continuing war there makes meaningful recovery impossible. In a recent talk, Ali addressed key developments in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq , often dictated by US geopolitical interests. Tariq Ali's recent book is The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power (Scribner, 2008). The talk was given in Vancouver, on 10th November 2008. The talk was broadcast by Against the Grain show on KPFA Radio, Berkeley, US. Listen to the programme

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) A leading review of the Crusades on Amazon.com says the following: “The Christian invaders were regarded as infidels. The Arabs were scorned as lawless pagans. The Westerners saw their quest as literally a sanctified crusade, while the Muslims launched their own holy war, called a jihad, in retaliation. Sound familiar? It should, because although the events depicted in the History Channel's documentary "The Crusades - Crescent & The Cross" took place nearly a thousand years ago, they are but a distant mirror to what's going on in the Middle East right now.” The Crusades: Were they religious wars? Many Muslims believe that the Crusades continue today and see the "war on terror" as a "Crusade against Islam." We listen to views by Yunus Bakhsh, writer and union activist, John Heelan of the Street Evangelists Association, Tariq Ali, author of "The Blood of Saladin...

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) An interview with Joel Beinin , professor of Middle East history at Stanford University (USA) and a member of the editorial committee of Middle East Report online. Beinin has been Director of Middle East Studies and Professor of History at the American University in Cairo. He is author of "Workers on the Nile: Nationalism, Communism, Islam and the Egyptian Working Class, 1882-1954," a study that examines the role of trade unionism and the working class in the development of Egyptian nationalism during the first half of the 20th century, and "Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East". Listen to the programme

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) The Arab Communist Movement , featuring the views of Tareq Ismael , author of 5 books on the subject, and Hussam Al-Hamalawy , blogger, journalist and socialist activist from Egypt. Dissection of " The Unwinnable War in Afghanistan ."

Sunday between noon and 1pm on 104.4 FM (London) Or Resonancefm.com (worldwide) Iran: 30 Years of an Unfinished Revolution . As a process the Iranian revolution started in early 1977 when civil rights groups and lawyers demanded more freedom. But the spark that ignited the big explosion took place on 8 September 1978 (Black Friday) when troops killed thousands of demonstrators in Tehran. In reply, the workers went on strike. What has been achieved after thirty years and where is Iran going? Asef Bayat, Director of the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World and Professor at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and author of Workers and Revolution in Iran, Work, Politics and Power, and Street Politics, in a talk entitled Iran - The Unfinished Revolution. The talk was organised by The Middle East Institute and School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, 07 April 2008 Watch here