Voices Of The Middle East And North Africa

Israeli' assault on Jenin refugee camp & 'Sinbad Voyage' mural in Berkeley by VOMENA Team at KPFA

In recent months, Fondomonte Arizona, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia-based Almarai dairy Company has been getting renewed attention for growing alfalfa in drought-prone Arizona, and sending it to Saudi Arabia to feed the country’s cows. Despite a worsening drought, several factors including Political influence and lack of regulations have allowed the company to draw an unlimited amount of groundwater from the wells it operates in the area. According to the Associated Press, the two new wells would have pumped in just three minutes what a family of four uses in a month. Why did Saudi Arabia choose Arizona for its crop production? In her new book Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arabia and Arizona. University of Syracuse political geographer professor Natalie Koch explores the exchange of colonial technologies between the Arabian Peninsula and the United States over the last two centuries,

On May 28th, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected for a third term by winning 52% of the popular vote- His main rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu garnered 48%. Two weeks earlier, the right wing islamist-nationalist coalition consisting of Erdogan’s rullingJustice and development party AKP and its allies had won the majority in the parliamentary election. we spend the hour discussing how and why Erdogan was able to secure a third term in office despite a worsening economy and now chronic hyperinflation, the government's disastrous response to the deadly earthquakes, as well as his increasingly authoritarian rule. What happened? In his new article in the new left review, our today’s guest, UC Berkeley sociologist Cihan Tugal writes “There are obvious institutional reasons for the resilience of Erdoğanism. The government has spent years monopolizing the mainstream media and judiciary. Prisons are overflowing with activists, journalists and politicians. The Kurdish opposition, the only truly organiz

Part 1- Professor Kahlid Medani discusses the root cause of the ongoing crisis in Sudan by VOMENA Team at KPFA

The 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq resulted in massive death and destruction, and fueled sectarian tensions, which culminated in a violent civil war. More than 300,000 Iraqis have died from direct war violence and 9.2 million people have been internally displaced, according to Brown University's Costs of War Project. The Brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq entrenched the country in a cycle of sectarian violence and impacted every aspect of life in Iraq, from governance to health care, infrastructure, economy and the environment and long term trauma In a recent piece in the Guardian, one of today’s guests Professor sinan antoon writes, “ I had always hoped to see the end of Saddam’s dictatorship at the hands of the Iraqi people, not courtesy of a neocolonial project that would dismantle what had remained of the Iraqi state and replace it with a regime based on ethno-sectarian dynamics, plunging the country into violent chaos and civil wars. This week, we bring you the first part of our conversation

Ilan Pappe on the latest developments in Israel by VOMENA Team at KPFA

Guest: Cihan tugal, professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author The Fall of the Turkish Model: How the Arab Uprisings Brought Down Islamic Liberalism, and Passive Revolution: Absorbing the Islamic Challenge to Capitalism

Guest: shahrazad Mojab, professor of Adult Education and Community Development and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto Her most recent books are Marxism & Migration; Women of Kurdistan: A Historical and Bibliographical Study; and Revolutionary Learning: Marxism, Feminism and Knowledge.

Guest: Bruce Whitehouse, associate professor of anthropology at Lehigh University

Guest: Rayan El- Amine, activist and scholar

Ilan Pappe on Israel’s new government, Laura Albast on the media coverage of Palestine by VOMENA Team at KPFA

The plight of imprisoned environmentalists in Iran & refugees in Europe by VOMENA Team at KPFA

What explains the dangerous levels of air pollution In Iran's main cities? by VOMENA Team at KPFA

Political prisoners in Iran & Amir Rashidi discusses internet restrictions in Iran by VOMENA Team at KPFA

The toxic legacies of the U.S. war in Iraq: A conversation with Kali Rubaii by VOMENA Team at KPFA

Guest: Arang Keshavarzian

History of student movement in Iran- Part 2 by VOMENA Team at KPFA

Guests Dr Kaveh Abbasian, former student activist, filmmaker, researcher, and lecturer in Film and Media Practice at the University of Kent in Britain Hamza Hamouchene, London-based Algerian researcher-activist, commentator and a founding member of Algeria Solidarity Campaign (ASC), and Environmental Justice North Africa (EJNA). He previously worked for War on Want, Global Justice Now and Platform London on issues of extractivism, resources, land and food sovereignty as well as climate, environmental, and trade justice.

Guest: Amir Rashidi, the director of digital rights and security at Miaan Group

Guest: Hossam el-Hamalawy is an Egyptian journalist, photographer and socialist activist