Voices of the Middle East and North Africa

On this edition of Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, we have a conversation with Jacobin staff writer BRANKO MARCETIC about his In These Times investigation, which reveals the individuals behind AIPAC’s election war chest: nearly 60% are CEOs and other top executives at the country’s largest corporations.

On this edition of Voices of the Middle East and North Africa, we have a conversation with independent journalist Adnan Khan about his recent article in MERIP titled "A Deadly Trade—Refugee Labor in Turkey and Europe’s Plastic Waste."

He writes that China’s ban came at an ideal time for Turkey’s plastic recyclers. Less than two years before it was implemented, the European Union had signed a controversial migration deal with the Turkish government. Turkey was promised six billion euros, among other political guarantees, to keep refugees from crossing into Europe. At the same time, funding for Frontex, the EU’s border protection agency, had soared, swelling to over 754 million euros in 2022, an increase of nearly 300 percent since the deal was signed.

Much of the waste Turkey receives consists of low quality and contaminated plastics, dirty trash that often arrives in the country illegally.

The results were predictable: refugee numbers in Turkey spiked from nearly 2.8 million at the end of 2015 to nearly 3.8 million by the end of 2017. The availability of cheap refugee labor has been key to sustaining Turkey’s burgeoning recycling sector. Much of the waste Turkey receives consists of low quality and contaminated plastics, dirty trash that often arrives in the country illegally.

The Mediterranean Sea has become a huge cemetery for many thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who have been risking their lives trying to cross it in search of a better future.

This week, we speak with Athens based independent journalist Moira Lavelle about the state of refugees and asylum seekers trying to reach Greece-

Later in the program, we remember Palestinian revolutionary and novelist Ghassan Kanafani- He was killed in Beirut by the Israeli Mossad spy agency on 8 July 1972. He was 36 years old.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah are at all-time high. Israel and Lebenese Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since October 8 the, when Israel launched its devastating war on Gaza, but the conflict between the two archenemies escalated after one of Hezbollah's most senior commanders was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, on June 11the. Hezbollah retaliated by launching a large volley of rockets and attack drones at Israel. Concurrently, both sides have stepped up their rhetoric. Are Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of an all-out war? What will the implications of such a war be for Lebanon, Israel and the region? And what is the nexus between Israeli-Hezbollah conflict and Israel’s colonization of Palestine and its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza?

Shahram Aghamir put these questions to Karim Makdisi. He is an associate Professor of international politics and founding director of the Graduate Program in Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut – Professor Makdisi is also the co-host of Makdisi Street podcast

Hossam el-Hamalawy on Egypt’s role in Israel's war on Gaza by VOMENA Team at KPFA

Students face backlash for supporting Palestinian rights, Stage reading of Woman Life Freedom by VOMENA Team at KPFA

What does it take to end the war on the Palestinians in Gaza? by VOMENA Team at KPFA

Gaza: Besieged since 2007, now under Israel’s “total blockade” by VOMENA Team at KPFA

American Anthropologist Association voted in favour of boycotting Israeli academic institutions by VOMENA Team at KPFA

Making sense of the devastating floods in Libya by VOMENA Team at KPFA