Voices of the Middle East and North Africa

On August 10th, Hamid Nouri, a former prosecutor in Iran, went on trial in Sweden for his alleged role in the executions of thousands of political prisoners in Iran in 1988. According to the indictment brought by Swedish public prosecutors, Nouri is accused as part of the systematic execution of thousands of political prisoners in the summer of 1988. The historic trial against Nouri will hear testimonies from dozens of witnesses and it will be the first time that one of the worst crimes of the past 40 years in Iran will be examined in a court of law.

In July 1988, the Islamic Republic of Iran agreed to bring an end to the brutal eight-year war with Iraq. Over the next two months, under the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, political prisoners around the country were secretly brought before a tribunal panel that would later become known as the Death Commission. They were not told what was happening and did not know that one ‘wrong' answer concerning their faith or political affiliation would send them straight to the gallows. Thousands of men and women were condemned to death, and many were buried in mass graves in Khavaran Cemetery in the vicinity of Tehran.

Through eyewitness accounts of survivors, research by scholars and memories of children and spouses of the deceased, the new book Voices of a Massacre reconstructs the events of that bloody summer, which has still not been officially acknowledged by the Iranian government

In the forward of the Voices of Massacre Professor Angela Davis Writes

There may be those who argue that these events took place long ago and that there is little to be done today, but the fact that it has been more than thirty years since this atrocity took place is an even more compelling reason why an international solidarity movement is needed to support the demand to render the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable for past as well as ongoing acts of repression.

Malihe Spoke with Nasser Mohajer, a prominent Iranian scholar and the author of Voices of a Massacre about The 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, the significance of Hamid Nouri and the charges against him.

Nasser Mohajer is an independent scholar of modern Iranian history. He has authored many books and written numerous articles on contemporary Iran, including on the prison systems of both the Pahlavi dynasty and the Islamic Republic, women's movements for equal rights, and histories of the Iranian left.

Since the 2010/2011 revolution, Tunisia has been seen as the most successful democracy in the Arab world but at the moment it tethering at the edge of what some people call have called a constitutional coup.

Here is what happened- On July 25th, after a day of protest over the government’s handling of the covid-19 pandemic and the economy, Tunisian President Kais Saied invoked an emergency act, dismissed the Prime Minister, suspended the Parliament the next day for at least a month, and took charge of the executive powers

One of the major contributing factors to this crisis has been the pandemic- According to Reuters. So far, around 940,000 people have been fully vaccinated among a population of 11.6 million. Tunisia has reported around 18,000 deaths and more than half a million infections. At one point last month it had the worst infection rate in Africa.

Khalil Bendib spoke with Tunisian researcher Mohamed Hammami about the pandemic and the political and economic crisis in Tunisia.

When the Palestinian Nakba (or the catastrophe of 1948) is discussed it's commonly understood to refer to the destruction of villages and the displacement of about 700 thousand Palestinians. What gets left out is what happened to the people who remained in the borders of what became Israel and the transformations the new state created on the land, natural resources, the public space, and urban development. This week Mira Nabulsi speaks with Palestinian architect and urban planner, Lama Shehadeh about Israel's settler-colonial project and how it manifests in urban planning within the 1948 Territories and how it impacted Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Lama Shehadeh is a Palestinian architect and urban planner based in Haifa. Shedadeh’s research focuses on the intersection of architecture and urban planning with spatial justice, environmental and political conflicts, and social formation. she is currently she works on master plans for Palestinian towns and villages within 1948’s borders.

Additional Resources:

In the Israel-Palestine conflict, urban planning is the ultimate weapon

https://www.fastcompany.com/90640935/in-the-israel-palestine-conflict-urban-planning-is-the-ultimate-weapon

The Rewriting of Palestinian Cities: Spatial Dislocations in Haifa and Akka

https://www.araburbanism.com/magazine/rewriting-palestinian-cities

Articles from EI

https://electronicintifada.net/tags/gentrification

ISRAELI MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES: A STORY OF NATION BUILDING, NATURE TRANSFORMATION, AND ALIENATION OF PALESTINIANS FROM THEIR ENVIRONMENT

https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/67020

Acre - عكا: Akka: A Palestinian Priority

https://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Acre/Story12400.html

Shadyar Omrani is a journalist, Poet, Novelist, Researcher and Public Lecturer.

https://twitter.com/shadyaromrani?lang=en

Resources:

https://iranhumanrights.org/2021/06/oil-industry-workers-go-on-national-strike-in-iran/

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-oil-strikes-contract-workers-engulf-industry

Since its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has practiced a policy of Jewish-only settlement expansion over Palestinian land. A land that the International Community designated as the territory of a future Palestinian State.

Jewish-only settlements constitute a violation of international law and international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, but they have remained a stable policy of consecutive Israeli right-wing and left-wing governments. Even with the upheaval inside Israeli politics, the Israeli cabinet still had the time to green-light the construction of over 500 new settlement units in the Bethlehem region, in May.

And as protest and legal challenges to forced evictions, of Palestinian families, continue in East Jerusalem, we take a look at the the American non-profits supporting Israeli settler expansion in the occupied territories. Mira Nabulsi speaks with journalist Alex Kane.

He is a contributing writer for Jewish Currents and +972 Magazine. His work has also appeared in The Intercept, Vice, In These Times, Al Jazeera and more.

In the second half of the show, Malihe Razazan speaks with Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi about her recent film "the Present". The Present was nominated for this year's Academy Award for best live action short film and won the BAFTA Award for best short film.

Khalil Bandib speaks with Samia Errazzouki about the rising tension between Spain and Morrocco after thousands of migrants crossed from Morroco into the North African enclave of Ceuta, considered Spanish territory. It is believed that Moroccan border guards eased the crossing of the migrants in response to Spain's hosting of Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario Front, which campaigns for the independence of Western Sahara.

Samia Errazzouki is a PhD candidate examining early modern Northwest African history. Prior to UC Davis, she worked as a journalist based in Morocco reporting for the Associated Press, and later with Reuters. Samia also worked as a research associate in Morocco with the University of Cambridge, researching the dynamics of surveillance and citizen media in light of the "Arab Spring." She is currently a co-editor with Jadaliyya. Her work and commentary appeared in various platforms including the Washington Post, BBC, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, the Carnegie Endowment's Sada Journal, and the Middle East Institute, among others. On Twitter: @S_Errazzouki.

More Resources:

Ceuta and Melilla: Spain's enclaves in North Africa

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57305882

Spain Sends Troops to African Enclave After Migrant Crossings Jump

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/europe/spain-migrants-ceuta-morocco.html

Professor Tugal speaks with Shahram Aghamir about the so-called Turkish liberal Islamic model once hailed by the US as a model to the Muslim World, what's left of that and what are the limitations of this model.

Cihan Tuğal is a professor of sociology at UC Berkeley. He studies three interlocking dynamics: 1) capitalism’s generation and destruction of communities, livelihoods, and places; 2) the implosion of representative democracy; 3) the crisis of liberal ethics. His ongoing research focuses on populism, the radical right, and neoliberalism in the United States and the Middle East. Tuğal’s most recent book, Caring for the Poor (2017, Routledge).

Additional resources:

TURKEY AT THE CROSSROADS?

newleftreview.org/issues/ii127/art…t-the-crossroads

Professor Tugal speaks with Shahram Aghamir about the so-called Turkish liberal Islamic model once hailed by the US as a model to the Muslim World, what's left of that and what are the limitations of this model.

Cihan Tuğal is a professor of sociology at UC Berkeley. He studies three interlocking dynamics: 1) capitalism’s generation and destruction of communities, livelihoods, and places; 2) the implosion of representative democracy; 3) the crisis of liberal ethics. His ongoing research focuses on populism, the radical right, and neoliberalism in the United States and the Middle East. Tuğal’s most recent book, Caring for the Poor (2017, Routledge).

Additional resources:

TURKEY AT THE CROSSROADS?

https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii127/articles/cihan-tugal-turkey-at-the-crossroads

Beshara Doumani is the inaugural Mahmoud Darwish Professor of Palestinian Studies, the first chair of its kind dedicated to this field of study. He is also the founding director (2012-2018) of Brown's Center for Middle East Studies (CMES), and founder of New Directions for Palestinian Studies, a CMES initiative since 2012. From 2012-2020 he was the Joukowsky Family Distinguished Professor of Modern Middle East History.

Doumani's research focuses on groups, places, and time periods marginalized by mainstream scholarship on the early modern and modern Middle East, with a focus on the social, economic, and legal history of Eastern Mediterranean. He also writes on the topics of academic freedom, and the Palestinian condition. His books include Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, and Family Life in the Ottoman Mediterranean: A Social History. He is currently working on the modern history of the Palestinians through the social life of stone.

On April 3rd, rumors started circulating about the arrest of Jordan’s former crown Prince Hamzah Bin Hussein, and some senior officials. A brief statement by the army denied the arrest but confirmed the prince was asked to stop, what the statement called, activities that were employed to target Jordan's security and stability.

In a leaked video, Prince Hamzah said that he was placed under house arrest anddenied involvement with foreign powers and aligned himself with the Jordanian street which is growingly frustrated by what he called the corruption and incompetence of the system.

How can we understand this turmoil inside the royal family and is there truly a rift at the highest ranks of the jordanian regime? How do these events link to the public discontent around the country's suffering economy? And how will it impact civil liberties and the social and political movements already bearing the brunt of restrictive anti-terrorism and cybersecurity laws.

Vomena’s Mira Nabulsi spoke with Dr. Ziad Abu-Rish, the director of the MA program in Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College. A historian by training, his research focuses on popular mobilizations and state formation in Jordan and Lebanon. Abu-Rish is also co-editor of Jadaliyya e-zine.