| The London Circle | 25 Oct 2023

Suella Braverman has been vocal about her intention to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations and campaigns, going as far as to suggest that the mere carrying of the Palestinian flag might be seen as a criminal act.

Yet more and more young people of all backgrounds seem intent on displaying their support for the Palestinian people and concentration of Israel and its attacks on Gaza.

The British university scene used to be the epicentre of the fight for justice and freedom anywhere in the world. Alas, no more.

With hundreds of thousands of people joining demonstrations across the UK, the question many ask whether the government, and specifically the Home Secretary will carry through with tutor threats to clamp down on public displays of support for the Palestinians.

A tragedy that is 75 years in the making seems to be attracting more and more young people seemingly undeterred by the threats issued by Suella Braverman, the Jewish Board of Deputies and others to bring charges of incitement or supporting a terrorist organisation, ie Hamas. The mainstream media’s coverage of the Israeli attacks in Gaza appears to have encouraged activists to be more vocal about speaking the truth, rather than intimidated into staying silent.

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Guests:

| Abdulrrahman Tamimi, British Palestinian activist

| Omar Mofeed, British Palestinian activist

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| The London Circle | 18 Oct 2023

The audacity of the attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel on the 7th of October caused reverberations around the world and could potentially be a game-changer for the entire struggle against Zionism.

The world woke up on the 7th of October to a military operation carried out by #Hamas, the audacity and expanse of which was unprecedented.

Since then, the ramifications of that day have continued to escalate, with the United States and Europe backing #Israel to the hilt.

This episode of The London Circle comes on the 11th day of Israel’s attack on Gaza resulting in the death of more than 3000 Palestinians including 500 killed in an attack on al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday night.

Anas Altikriti joins both Daud Abdullah, Director of @MiddleEastMonitor and Azzam Tamimi, Author & Palestinian Expert @azzamtamimi to discuss the current situation and how it could potentially be a game-changer for the entire struggle against Zionism.

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Guests:

| Daud Abdullah, Director of Middle East Monitor

| Azzam Tamimi, Author and Palestinian Expert

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| The London Circle | 11 Oct 2023

The fact that Muslims, and especially Muslim activists are subject to monitoring and their privacy often violated due to anti-terror allowances is well known.

But how deep and how far do these violations of privacy, data sharing and profiling go, and at what expense?

Phantom Parrot is a new documentary covering the trials and tribulations of activists at the hands of security authorities, and is also an actual intelligence program which sought, among other things, to invade the private lives of a number of activists to monitor their movements and restrict their capacity to travel and speak. Mohammed Rabbani was one of those activists, and his arguments against the alleged right of security authorities to obtain passwords and private information of suspects, are well known.

 

Anas Altikriti talks with him about this new documentary and about his own work on the encroachment of intelligence authorities into our private lives.

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Guests:

| Mohammed Rabbani, Director, Cage UK

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| The London Circle | 04 Oct 2023

For centuries, Palestine was a diverse multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society whose various facets lived side by side in peace. The Zionist project targeted all those facets and today threatens their very existence. Palestine’s Christians, inhabitants of Palestine for over 2000 years have their story to tell.

The dominant narrative on Palestine projected by the mainstream media, often deliberately omits a crucial component thereof, Palestinian Christians and their struggle against Zionism and the Israeli occupation with all its manifestations.

Not only does this reduce the Palestinian struggle, it exposes a hypocrisy of the largely Christian West towards their brethren in faith in Palestine.

 

Anas Altikriti talks to Bishop Munib Younan and Makram Khoury-Machool about the struggles the Palestine’s Christians encounter including correcting the dominant narrative on Palestine and their unwavering solidarity with their Muslim and Arab brethren against the ugliness of occupation

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Guests:

| Bishop Munib Younan, Former President of the International Lutheran Church

| Makram Khoury-Machool, Director of the Cambridge Centre for Palestine Studies

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| The London Circle | 27 Sep 2023

Behind government policies which emerged following the 9-11 attacks and the heralding of the war on terror, is a sophisticated web of psychological analysis and mental health evaluations, not far from sci-fi plots of Hollywood, where crimes are pre-empted and terrorists are detected before they have themselves considered committing any criminal acts. Or so, we are led to believe.

When the film Minority Report came out, no one expected that within only a few years, counter-terrorism operatives would employ psychology to fight the fight. While the contentious practice of “profiling’ was common, wide-spread and often wildly off the mark, scientists and so called experts were hard at work instilling such methods and mechanisms into policies implemented across the board targeting young children and the vulnerable.

 

Tarek Younis, an author and expert in psychology and mental health in counter-terrorism practices and Islamophobia, talk with Anas Altikriti about this and the implications upon an already heavily targeted Muslim community in the UK

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Guests:

| Tarek Younis, Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Middlesex University.

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| The London Circle | 20 Sep 2023

Long described as the most oppressed people in the entire world, the struggle of the Rohingya continues not only in the face of systematic dehumanisation, but against global ignorance or indifference to their plight.

The suffering of the Rohingya people has been ongoing for decades but exacerbated further by one of the most brutal military regimes in the world, intent on eradicating the Rohingya people particularly and Burmese Muslims in general.

But among the array of calamities facing the Rohingya’s fight for equality and freedom from oppression, is the global ignorance and often indifference to their plight, favouring political and economic interests instead.

 

Kywa Win talk with Anas Altikriti about the Rohingya, the roots of their struggle and the future outlook for their suffering.

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Guests:

| SKywa Win, Burma Human Rights Network.

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| The London Circle | 13 Sep 2023

With mental health being better understood and better monitored by all parties, including authorities and practitioners, questions emerge as to the presence and impact of mental health on Muslim communities, as well as avenues available to address these issues.

Mental health has only been talked about and somewhat understood in the last few years, and to date, much misunderstanding and lack of appreciation of the gravity of mental illnesses on individuals, communities and all of society remains prevalent.

How does mental health impact British Muslims, and are such ailments connected to ethnicity, dietary practices or specific lifestyles? How do we draw a connection between mental illness and practices of abuse, domestic and otherwise? What is the real impact of mental health on a community.

These questions and more are raised in the discussion Anas Altikriti has with Sahar Beg.

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Guests:

| Sahar Beg, Psychotherapist.

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| The London Circle | 06 Sep 2023

Why is it that the UK democracy seems to be failing the people so fantastically, with little hope that any real change is likely under Labour if they were to win the next elections?

With the economy in disarray, the cost-of-living crisis getting progressively worse, the NHS being hammered into the ground, and young people having to choose between activism and being hopeful of a career by which they can pay off their enormous student’s debt, one would have thought that the official opposition (i.e. Labour) would see this as a golden opportunity to propose a different set of politics to the failed ones the country has had for the past 13 years. Alas, that is not the case.

Anas Altikriti talks with Matt Kennard about the state of British Politics and why our democracy isn’t working.

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Guests:

| Matt Kennard

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| The London Circle | 30 Aug 2023

Two years on from the scenes of the US forces and their agents scurrying onto the wheels and engines of planes leaving Kabul in a hurry, Afghanistan is a country that is proving a far greater success than most ever thought possible.

A recent delegation of Muslim leaders went on a fact-finding mission to ask the Taliban government tough questions, especially pertaining to girls and their right to education. They also asked about the once-booming opium trade as well as various public sector services that might tell of where Afghanistan is heading.

 

Hamid Mahmoud was a member of that delegation. In this episode, he discusses with Anas Altikriti what he saw and what he thought of the present and the future of Afghanistan. 

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Guests:

| Hamid Mahmoud

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| The London Circle | 23 Aug 2023

The first victims of frontline doctors and health providers who fell to Covid were Muslims. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims work across the NHS, which is the jewel of the United Kingdom and a model example to all health sectors anywhere around the world. 

However, the NHS is being severely undermined due to successive governments driving it towards a US-style privatized model, which would ensure millions would be left without medical cover, whilst enriching corporates and capitalists to the tune of billions every year. 

What role did the likes of BIMA (British Islamic Medical Association) play in drawing up plans for a holistic and comprehensive health sector, raise awareness among the Muslim community and address issues to the government and health authorities that would see the NHS saved from the scrap heap? 

 

Dr’s Amer Hamid and Wajid Akhter speak with Anas Altikriti. 

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Guests:

| Dr Amer Hamid , 
| Dr Wajid Akhter , 

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