Voices of the Middle East and North Africa

This week, we bring you a conversation on the latest dramatic political developments in Sudan with Elsadig Elsheikh, the Director of the Global Justice program at the Haas Institute at UC Berkeley

Later in the program, award-winning multidisciplinary artist, and author Niloufar Talebi joins us to talk about her new opera Abraham in Flames, inspired by the stunning imagery of the late iconic Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou's life and poetry.

Elsadig Elsheikh is the Director of the Global Justice program at the Haas Institute, where he oversees the program’s projects on food system, global equity, and human rights.

It was February 11th, 1979, after a few moments of silence on Radio Tehran's broadcast, the voice of Jamshid Adili goes "In sedaaye enghelaab-e mardom-e Iran ast" -- "This is the voice of the Revolution of the Iranian people." He went on to repeat the announcement as if he was trying to reassure the audience that the revolution had brought an end to monarchy in Iran.

The streets became flooded with euphoric people celebrating the triumph of the revolution and the end of Mohammad Reza Shah’s rule and the Pahlavi Dynasty. The victory was the culmination of 18 months of demonstrations, bloody clashes, massive industrial actions, a general strike and three days of armed confrontation between the revolutionaries and the most loyal forces of the Shah.

But why did Iran of the 1970s, with its well-off middle class, massive military might and powerful international allies, experience a revolution? And what were the origins of the revolution?

The 1979 revolution has come to be known as the “Islamic Revolution” because it ushered in a regime with an Islamist project, but How Islamic was the revolution? Can a phenomenon as complex as a revolution be described by the simple adjective of Islamic?

As the first part of our series on the 1979 Iranian revolution and its aftermath, we posed these questions to Professor Ervand Abrahamian, a prominent Iranian historian and emeritus distinguished professor of history at Baruch College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. He is the author of Iran Between Two Revolutions, among many other titles.

He spoke with Shahram Aghamir

This week, we speak with New York-based visual artist Mariam Ghani about her new documentary "What We Left Unfinished", which is part of a long-term research, film, exhibition and book project centered around five unfinished Afghan feature films shot, but never edited, between 1978 and 1992.

Later in the program, we talk about the new play "Scenes from 71 Years" currently on stage at Potrero Stage in San Francisco. The play offers a snapshot of the life under the grip of the Israeli occupation from 1948 until the present.

On Tuesday, April 9th, over 6 Million Israeli voters headed to polling stations to choose their next government in a race that displayed all shades of right-wing blocs in Israel.

Results as of Thursday evening indicate that the incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading. His main rival the Blue and White alliance led by former Chief of the Israeli army Benny Gantz, scored the same number of seats. But with most right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties vowing to ally with Netanyahu, Gantz conceded the race even before the end of vote counting.

Pundits have mourned the Israeli left, predicting perhaps what could really be the final nail in the coffin of the two states solution. With a total of 65 seats out of the 120 in the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) Netanyahu is now expected to form what is considered “the most right-wing and ultra-Orthodox government Israel has ever seen”.

In the lead up to the election, Palestinian citizens of Israel were engaged in a heated debate over whether they should participate in the election- Although eligible to vote, many decided not to. Others voted in an attempt to block the rise of the Zionist far right.

To get a better understanding of what was going in the Palestinian community inside Israel, Mira spoke with Budour Hassan. She is a Palestinian writer and legal researcher at the Jerusalem Legal Aid Center in Jerusalem.

After months of street protests, people in Sudan finally got rid of the country’s long time dictator Omar Al- Bashir, but the celebration soon turned into anger when they realized one military rule is replaced by another- As one protester put it- we did not protest to replace one thief with another

So what is next for Sudan? And what in store for the movement for democracy and social justice there?

We will get the answers from Khalid Medani who is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Islamic Studies at McGill University in Canada

And with Israeli elections topping the headlines in the past few days, we’ll get a palestinian view on the elections from the Jerusalem based writer Budour Hassan.

This week, we get an update on the political developments in Algeria after the official resignation of the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. We speak again with Dr Thomas Serres of UC Santa Cruz.

Later in the program

We hear from the Syrian illustrator Dima Nachawi. We talk about the art scene, especially in exile, and the importance of creative work in preserving a nation’s collective memory.

Algeria has been in happy turmoil for the past seven weeks, with millions of people in the streets reclaiming their rights to genuine representation from a tired and corrupt old regime.

President for 20 years, Abdelaziz Bouteflika has not only accepted to peacefully resign, but he has even apologized to the Algerian people.

To get a better sense of the dramatic political changes that are taking place in Algeria

Khalil spoke with UC Santa Cruz Professor, Dr. Thomas Serres. They talk about the ongoing street protests and the possible political formations in the near future-

It’s been 8 years since the Syrian people revolted against Bashar Al Assad regime. During these years Syrian art has flourished inside and in the diaspora, documenting loss, exile, resistance and resilience. We speak with Syrian artist Dima Nachawi, she is an illustrator and the founder of the Memory Initiative for Syrian Culture. Last year, Dima was featured as part of BBC’s “100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.”

We talk about Syria, the art scene especially in exile, and the importance of creative work in preserving a nation’s collective memory. She spoke to us from her home in Beirut, Lebanon.

To see Dima’s work, visit her portfolio on:

https://www.behance.net/dimanashawaaf8

And on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/Dima4480

Al Jumhuriyha article referenced in the interview

https://www.aljumhuriya.net/en/content/i-%E2%80%9Cabnormal%E2%80%9D

This week, we speak with Eli Clifton, contributor editor of lobelia, about the recent controversies surrounding Representative Ilhan Omar, who has been questioning the US’s unconditional support for Israel as well as the influence of AIPAC, the powerful lobby that is instrumental in shaping US foreign policy in the Middle East.

Later in the program, we’ll hear from 5 Yemeni women activists who speak about the impact that the war has had on their lives and how their view their role as Yemeni women, politically and socially.