PR Unmasked

This is the 7th episode of the 3rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode hosted by Concordia Forum, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with historian and author Arash Azizi, Founder and Executive Director of Bulbul Collective Banafsheh Madaninejad, Dr. Kamran Bokhari - Director of Analytical Development at the New Lines Institute; and journalist and author Nahid Siamdoust.

This episode will examine the protests that have been taking place in Iran since the death of Mahsa Zhina Amini on the 16th of September 2022. We will be discussing the ripple effect they have triggered both nationally and in the surrounding region as well as looking at what the future may hold for Democracy in Iran.

Arash Azizi is a New York-based writer and historian, whose commentary has been featured in numerous outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, the BBC, Guardian, Vanity Fair and Al-Jazeera. He is the author of “The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US and Iran’s Global Ambitions” (Oneworld, 2020) and “Iran’s New Revolution: Women, Life, Freedom” (Oneworld, 2023.)

Dr. Banafsheh Madaninejad is the Founder and Executive Director of Bulbul Collective, a non-profit dedicated to elevating the voices of the US AMEMSA

Dr. Kamran Bokhari is Director of Analytical Development at the New Lines Institute, national security and foreign policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute and author of Political Islam in the Age of Democratization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). He has also contributed chapters to numerous edited volumes.

Dr. Nahid Siamdoust is a cultural historian whose work concentrates primarily on the intersection between politics and various modes of culturalproduction and media forms in Iran and the wider Middle East. She has previously worked as a full-time Iran and Middle East based journalist for TIME Magazine, Der Spiegel, The Los Angeles Times and Al Jazeera English TV and has taught at Oxford University and NYU Steinhardt’s Media, Culture and Communication Department.

This is the 6th episode of the 3rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode hosted by the Concordia Forum, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with Founder of FootsApp, Komail Hashmani, the Executive Director of the Muslim Community Network, Aniqa Nawabi, and the Executive Chair of the Religion Media Centre, Michael Wakelin.

In this episode, we will be discussing the coverage of the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar, as well as the difference in perspective between legacy media and social media, from fans discussing their perspectives of visiting a Muslim country and seeing how Muslims extended their arms to them, to racist and Islamophobic comments on some TV channels. The main focus of the episode the historical significance of the 2022 Qatar World Cup and why it represents a pivotal moment for many Muslims, both in football and beyond.

Aniqa Nawabi is a public service professional for more than a decade working in the non-profit and international aid sector. Since 2018, she has been the Executive Director of the Muslim Community Network, a Civil and Social Organization dedicated to using civic education and leadership development to expand and shape what it means to be Muslim in the United States of America.

Michael Wakelin is a seasoned media professional with over 23 years of experience with the BBC, where he served as Head of Religion between 2006 and 2010. Currently, Michael is the Executive Chair of the Religion Media Centre, the Head of Programmes for Coexist House and Executive Producer at TBI Media.

Komail Hashmani is an entrepreneur and founder of Footsapp. Footsapp is a provider of football tournament management solutions. It allows users to create groups, invite players, manage stats, set up tactics, and many other functions that help the Sunday-league footballer feel like they are playing in the Premier League.

This is the 5th episode of the 3rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode recorded in partnership with Global Ties US, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with Cultural Affairs Officer Sydney Smith of the US Embassy, and Chairman of Farnborough International, Paul Everrit.

This episode will be focussing on be the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, the importance this relationship has in combating hostile state influences, and the role of public diplomacy and exchange, as promoted by the recently completed Protecting Sensitive Industries Exchange. This programme has been designed for representatives from relevant UK government ministries, private industry, and academia to learn more about US government and industry strategies for protecting sensitive technologies particularly in the military, scientific, and energy sectors.

Sydney Smith is a seasoned diplomat and communications expert with extensive experience in the public and private sectors, with a special focus and interest on misinformation, media literacy, and extremism. She has been serving as Cultural Affairs Officer with the US Embassy in London since 2020.

Paul Everrit is the former chief executive of major UK trade associations ADS & SMMT and has been a member of the Automotive Council and the Aerospace Growth Partnership. Paul is currently the Chairman of Farnborough International Ltd and Non-executive Director of the Aerospace Technology Institute.

This is the 4th episode of the 3rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode, hosted by the Concordia Forum, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with Ambassador Deborah E. Lipstadt, the current US’ Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.

Ambassador Lipstadt has a storied career as a historian, academic, and award-winning author, and in today’s episode, she is discussing the growth of antisemitic rhetoric in the US & Europe, its history and what transatlantic communities can do to combat it now, and in the future. Ambassador Lipstadt is also answering questions from Mike Katz, the National Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement; Attorney & Award-Winning Author, Rabia Chaudry; Labour MP for Manchester, Gorton Afzal Khan, and Imam Abdullah Antepli, Associate Professor of the Practice of Interfaith Relations at Duke University.

Before being confirmed as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism in March 2022, Ambassador Lipstadt served as the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University’s Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, which she helped to found. She has also taught at the University of Washington, UCLA and Occidental College. Special Envoy Lipstadt also served as the director of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute and was a research fellow at the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Her numerous, award-winning books include: The Eichmann Trial; Denial: Holocaust History on Trial; Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory; and Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933-1945. She received the National Jewish Book Award three times, most recently in 2019 for Antisemitism: Here and Now. Her biographical study of Golda Meir will be published by Yale University Press in 2023.

This is the third episode of the 3rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode, hosted by Unitas Communications, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with the current U.S. Department of State Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, Sara Minkara.

In this episode, Sara lets us in on her life story as a Muslim woman with a disability, her journey into politics, diplomacy and foreign policy, her proudest achievements and what she wants her legacy to be.

Other topics Sara talks about are the relation between her faith and her disability, how she became interested and involved in activism and diplomacy, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and her developing of the In The Dark Methodology.

Sara Minkara is a Lebanese-American inclusion and disability expert and a disability rights advocate who serves as the United States Special Advisor on International Disability Rights in the U.S. Department of State. She is the founder of non-profit organization Empowerment Through Integration (ETI) and Sara Minkara LLC. ETI works with blind children, including refugees in Lebanon to help them build independence and learn life skills.

This is the second episode of the 3rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode, hosted by the Unitas Communications, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with the award-winning journalist and a respected author of numerous political books- Peter Oborne.

In this episode, Peter speaks about his recent book “The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam”. The book encapsulates the western perceptions of Islam, rise in islamophobia since 9/11 and 7/7 attacks, and historical connotations of the Abrahamic faith.

Other topics Peter talks about are the Trojan Horse conspiracy, his thoughts on why foundations like Quilliam became subservient to political institutions, and how does he envision the resistance against a restricted religious freedom in the West.

Peter Oborne has been the chief political editor of The Spectator, The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph. His publications include The Pro-Israel lobby in Britain, Churchill Legacy, Muslims Under Siege, The Use and Abuse of Terror, amongst many.

This is the first episode of the 3rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode, hosted by the Concordia Forum at the Toynbee Hall in London, Muddassar Ahmed sits down with Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim woman elected for the United States Congress.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar discusses the challenges she faced as a woman of colour in American politics, her objection on the recent overruling of Roe v. Wade, the need for political representation of minority groups, and the increasing burden of student loans on American youth.

She also touches on the record levels of hate crimes and gun violence in the U.S., the rise in Islamophobia since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of voting for minorities, her views on Kamala Harris’ performance as the Vice-President and her endorsement of Joe Biden’s presidency.

Ilhan was elected to the House of Representatives for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in 2018, replacing her predecessor, Keith Ellison. She is a renown and vocal representative of the Democrats with women’s rights and social justice at the heart of her politics.

This is the fourth part of our four-episode series where we take a look at America’s policy challenges for the next decade. In this episode, hosted by the Concordia Forum at the Atlantic Council headquarters in Washington D.C., Muddassar Ahmed is joined by a panel of experts to discuss the disparity between national and international agendas and the ways in which human rights abuses should be dealt with by global actors, all through the lens of the Uighur and Rohingya struggles.

Our panellists include Arsalan Suleman (Counsel, Foley Hoag LLP), Rushan Abbas (Founder & Executive Director of Campaign for Uighurs), Yasmin Ullah (Rohingya Social Justice Activist), and Rayhan Asat (Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East Programs, Atlantic Council), with opening remarks by Uzra Zeya (Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy & Human Rights, US State Department).

This panel is led by Arif Hyder Ali, who is the Co-chair of International Arbitration Practice at Dechert LLP. He has served as lead trial counsel in international investment and commercial arbitrations under all of the major international arbitral regimes, the governing laws of over 50 civil and common law jurisdictions and international law. 

The episode was done in partnership with the Atlantic Council, international affairs think tank galvanizing U.S. leadership and engagement in the world.

This is the third part of our four-episode series where we take a look at America’s policy challenges for the next decade. In this episode, hosted by the Concordia Forum at the Atlantic Council headquarters in Washington D.C., Muddassar Ahmed is joined by a panel of experts to discuss the future of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of American troops and what foreign actors, such as the U.S., the OIC and neighbouring Pakistan, can do to support the Afghan people under the Taliban rule.  

Our panellists include Haris Tarin (Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security), Hassan Abedin (Former Senior Advisor to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), and Hassan Abbas (Author & Distinguished Professor of International Relations at the Near East South Asia Strategic Studies Centre).

This panel is led by Kamran Bokhari, a national security and foreign-policy specialist at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute, who previously served as the coordinator for Central Asia studies at the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. The episode was done in partnership with the Atlantic Council, an international affairs think tank galvanizing U.S. leadership and engagement in the world.

This is the second part of our four-episode series where we take a look at America’s policy challenges for the next decade. In this episode, hosted by the Concordia Forum at the Atlantic Council headquarters in Washington D.C., Muddassar Ahmed is joined by a panel of experts to discuss what it means to be a Western Muslim in today’s political climate, how to make young Muslims feel seen and heard, and how to empower Muslims within Western society.

Our panellists include Farah Pandith (Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations), Salam al-Marayati (President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council), Sayyid Mohammad Baqir Kashmiri (Vice President and Religious Affairs Director at I.M.A.M.), and Debbie Almontaser (Founder of the Khalil Gibran International Academy).

This panel is led by Arshia Wajid, Founder of American Muslim Health Professionals, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering Muslim health professionals to improve the quality and delivery of health services to all Americans. The episode was done in partnership with the Atlantic Council, international affairs think tank galvanizing U.S. leadership and engagement in the world.