Roqe

A brand new edition of Roqe with the whole on-air team back in studio and including a featuring interview with Iranian-Canadian writer and actress, Banafsheh Taherian, and her podcast project adapting Nizami’s “Khosrow and Shirin;” football analyst Mehrdad Ahmadpour on the moral questions around supporting Team Melli and the chances of the Iranian and Canadian teams at the 2022 World Cup; Jian’s review of his recent Dubai trip; remembering the brilliant neurologist Dr. Shahin Nouri; and Letters of the Week.

“The Constitutional Revolution of 1906” - Part 16 of the Roqe Media series, The Contemporary History of Iran. In the early 20th Century, in the midst of widespread discontent with the corruption and inefficacy of the Qajar Dynasty, a powerful movement formed and mobilized in Iran, aimed at changing the structure of the monarchy from despotic to constitutional, and to adopt representative governance by introducing the country to a parliamentary system. The Constitutional Revolution is considered a major turning point in the formation of modern Iran. Dr. Ali Massoud Ansari, a Professor of Iranian History and Founding Director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St. Andrews, joins Jian Ghomeshi from Fife, Scotland, to discuss what gave rise to the constitutionalists, the turbulent five year period in which the Constitution was established, and the unmet revolutionary goals of liberal secularism, parliamentary democracy, the containment of clerical dominance, and the limiting of the power of the monarchy, in the aftermath of the 1906 Revolution and the century that followed.

Roqe 164 - A special themed episode of Roqe featuring wide-ranging interviews with two notable NASA figures of Iranian descent, who have done outstanding work in the arena of space, technology and innovation. First, Jian is joined by award-winning engineer and NASA star, Dr. Firouz Naderi, in Los Angeles, and then the successful NASA project manager who is leading the development of a new lunar crane, Barmac Taleghani, joins from Langley, Virginia

“The 1999 Student Uprising” - Part 15 of the Roqe Media series, The Contemporary History of Iran. In July of 1999, after the state censure and closing of a reformist-oriented newspaper, Iranian students, beginning at the University of Tehran, rose up against the regime with a unity, ideological solidarity and size that had not been seen in any kind of protest since the 1979 revolution. The student uprising has been called, Iran’s Tiananmen Square. Veteran journalist and former BBC Persian bureau chief, Mohammad Manzarpour, who was present at the protests as a student and a reporter (and was subsequently jailed), joins Jian Ghomeshi from Washington DC, to speak to this pivotal moment in recent Iranian history, the context, the aftermath and the legacy, and how an immediate violent backlash by the state would rattle a nascent reform movement and reconfirm the unbounded use of repression by the leaders of the Islamic Republic.

Roqe 163 - A special themed episode of Roqe featuring wide-ranging interviews with two very successful tech and entrepreneurial stars of Iranian descent. Jian is joined by award-winning engineer, innovator, and founder of Babylon Health, Dr. Ali Parsa, in London, UK, and then tech entrepreneur, investor, and CEO of Code.org, Hadi Partovi, in Seattle, USA.

“America & Iran Before 1979” - Part 14 of the Roqe Media series, The Contemporary History of Iran. Today, we know America and Iran to be publicly declared enemies that engage in verbal saber-rattling, threats, sanctions, and a tenuous on-and-off again nuclear deal. But what about the years before the rise of the Islamic Republic? If we look at the totality of the relationship between the United States and Iran before 1979, what might we find? Historian and Executive Director of the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. John Ghazvinian, author of the new book, “America and Iran: A History from 1720 to the Present,” joins Jian Ghomeshi from Philadelphia to detail that the answer seems to be the story of two nations who engaged in decades of mutual respect, admiration and overt cooperation all the way from the 18th Century through to, say, very warm relations between the last Shah of Iran and President Richard Nixon.

Roqe 162 - A special themed episode of Roqe featuring interviews with two remarkable tennis stars of Iranian descent. Jian is joined by legendary tennis maverick and international favourite, Mansour Bahrami, in Paris, and the young sensation who rose from modest means to the top rankings in women’s tennis, Aravane Rezai, in Sainte-Etienne, France.

The Republic of Mahabad” - Part 13 of the Roqe Media series, The Contemporary History of Iran. What spawned a movement of Iranian Kurds searching for nationhood and unity dating back to the Constitutional Revolution of 1905? And how did Kurdish nationalism in Iran grow to reach its zenith with an independent - albeit, short-lived - independent Republic to realize the elusive dream of autonomy and self-government? And what would become of the Kurdish unity and power embodied in the Republic of Mahabad after it collapsed by the end of 1946? Historian and author, Dr. Abbas Vali, a professor of Modern Social and Political Theory in the Department of Sociology at Bospherous University, joins Jian Ghomeshi from Istanbul to discuss a fascinating moment in Iranian history and a pivotal event for Kurds around the world.

The second part of a new mini-series on Roqe, The Plight of Persian Music, about the dysfunctional nature of the Iranian music business. Well-known Persian music journalist, critic and author, Amir Bahari, joins Jian from Istanbul to discuss the nature and evolution of music in Iran before the revolution, the dominance of the “6/8” style, the devastating effects of the Islamic Republic censorship on creativity and musical artists, and the issues that still exist for Persian music inside Iran in the present day where innovation is suppressed, no democratic platform for exposure exists, and even the best Persian music does not get the international recognition and acclaim it deserves. (NOTE: THIS INTERVIEW IS IN PERSIAN). Plus the Roqe Team on air team grapple with sickness and Covid as Kyan and Reza return with masks and sniffles.

“The Fall of Reza Shah” - Part 12 of the Roqe Media series, The Contemporary History of Iran. How did Reza Shah Pahlavi, the dynamic leader known as the “father of modern Iran,” who ascended to become the popular king of Iran in 1925, experience a dramatic, expeditious and ignominious fall from the throne in 1941? And how did he spend his final years in exile? Acclaimed historian Dr. Shaul Bakhash, author of a new book on the life of Reza Shah, joins Jian Ghomeshi from George Mason University to discuss Reza Shah’s forced abdication at the hands of the British after the invasion of Iran in 1941, the passing of the crown to his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, his unhappy flight into exile, and his final days as a shadow of his once powerful presence. This is the second of two conversations with Dr. Bakhash that follows Part 11 of the Contemporary History of Iran, “The Rise of Reza Shah.”