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Arab Voices Archives (click on the date to listen to
any of the
shows)
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Date: |
February 24, 2021  |
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Topic: |
Marc Lamont Hill's
Houston Talk
Today
on Arab Voices, we will air the remarks of Dr. Marc Lamont
Hill delivered at the University of Houston on
Black-Palestinian solidarity in April 2019 at an event
organized by
Defend Our Voice,
a coalition of multiple student organizations at the
University of Houston. These remarks
were never aired before, so you get to hear them for the
first time. We will also air a few of the questions and
answers that followed his talk. At that event, Dr. Marc
Lamont Hill talked about activism, his speech at the United
Nations, his firing from CNN, his visit to occupied
Palestine and what he witnessed there, differential
treatment of Palestinians in Israel, life under Israeli
occupation, criticism of human rights violations, criticism
of Israel, anti-Semitism, the Afro-Palestinian community,
and more.
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill is an academic, author, activist, and
television personality. He is a Professor of Media Studies
and Urban Education at Temple University in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. He was the host of the syndicated television
show Our World with Black Enterprise, and hosts the online
Internet-based HuffPost Live. He is also a BET News
correspondent, and a former political commentator for CNN
and Fox News.
In November 2018, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill was fired from his
position as a commentator for CNN, one day after he spoke at
the United Nations at a special meeting of the Committee on
the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People, in which he called for equal rights for all in
historic Palestine.
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill has a new book co-authored with
Mitchell Plitnick titled "Except for Palestine: The Limits
of Progressive Politics".
KPFT continues its
Winter Membership
Drive and Arab Voices needs your support.
Please consider a contribution to support KPFT by calling
713-526-5738 or do it online at
www.kpft.org. |
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Date: |
February 17, 2021 |
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KPFT experienced power outage
due to the severe winter storm in Houston. As a result,
Arab Voices did not air on February 17. Our next show will
be on Wednesday, February 24.
It is Winter Membership
Drive for KPFT and Arab Voices needs your support.
Please consider a contribution to support KPFT by calling
713-526-5738 or do it online at
www.kpft.org. |
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Date: |
February 10, 2021  |
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Topics: |
It is Winter Membership
Drive
for KPFT and Arab Voices needs your support.
Please consider a contribution to support KPFT by calling
713-526-5738 or do it online at
www.kpft.org.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air some recordings and
interviews conducted previously covering various topics with
distinguished guests about Bahrain and United Arab Emirates
normalization with Israel, Yemen, Iraq, and Palestine:
Reverend Erica Williams,
Social Justice Activist with Black Christians for Palestine,
message delivered at a meeting at the United Nations
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the
Palestinian People.
A portion of an interview conducted previously with
Dr. Khalil Jahshan,
Palestinian-American political analyst and media
commentator, who serves as the Executive Director of the
Arab Center Washington D.C., about why Bahrain and the
United Arab Emirates normalized relations with Israel.
A portion of an interview conducted previously with
Dr. Shireen Al-Adeimi,
an assistant professor of education at Michigan State
University, about the war on Yemen.
A portion of
Dr. Sinan Antoon's
talk on "Iraq Afterwards: Epistemic Violence and Poetic (In)Justice"
delivered at the University of Houston at an event sponsored
by The Center for Arab Studies and the Arab-American
Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the
University of Houston. |
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Date: |
February 3, 2021  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Black History Month: “Amanda Gorman Looks for Change” & “The
Hill We Climb”
February is Black History Month, and today we will air Dr.
Synnika Lofton’s latest Topical Poem of the Week episode
“Amanda Gorman Looks For Change”, where he lifts up the
youngest inaugural poet African-American Amanda Gorman, who
performed her poem, "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration
of President Joe Biden. We will also air Amanda Gorman’s
"The Hill We Climb" poem.
2nd Segment:
Spoken Words on
Yemen by Artist Esa Mighty
We will air spoken words on Yemen from Yemeni-American
Artist Esa Mighty. He delivered the spoken words at “The
World Says No to War on Yemen Global Online Rally” held on
January 25, 2021, and attended by thousands of people from
around the globe.
3rd Segment:
Spying on Muslim &
Arab Americans
We will air a special episode from Still Spying Podcast
titled Spying on Muslim & Arab Americans. It is a
conversation with Abdeen Jabara, a longtime civil rights
attorney, past president of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, and former board member of
the Center for Constitutional Rights, who not only fought
against surveillance and discrimination on behalf of others,
he himself was spied on by the FBI and the NSA.
Since 9/11, the FBI has subjected the Muslim, Arab, and
South Asian communities to surveillance. Sending
infiltrators and confidential informants into mosques and
other community spaces absent any evidence of criminal
wronging, it’s clear that for the FBI race, religion, and
national origin are inherently suspicious in the War on
Terror. However, the FBI’s history of targeting Muslim and
Arab Americans goes back long before 9/11. As early as 1972,
Richard Nixon had ordered mass surveillance of Arab
Americans as part of “Operation Boulder.”
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Date: |
January 27, 2021  |
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Topic: |
The World Says No to
War on Yemen - Global Online Rally
Today
on Arab Voices, we will air most of the remarks delivered at
"The World Says No to War on Yemen - Global Online Rally"
held on Monday, January 25, 2021, and attended by thousands
of people from around the globe.
Over 300 organizations from 28 countries have also signed
the call to action against the war on Yemen, making it
the biggest international anti-war co-ordination since the
campaign against the Iraq war.
The remarks we will air are from prominent voices that
participated from different countries to speak out against
the catastrophic war in Yemen. We will listen to
Apsana Begum,
Member of the British Parliament,
Lindsey German
with Stop the War Coalition,
Yanis Varoufakis,
with DiEM25 in Europe,
Ahmed Al-Babati,
British-Yemeni Soldier,
Dr. Cornel West,
an American philosopher, political activist, social critic,
author, and public intellectual,
Kate Hudson,
General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,
Congressman Ro Khanna,
John Finucane,
Sinn
Féin Member of the Parliament,
Daniele Obono,
Member of the French National Assembly,
Dr. Shireen Aladeimi,
Yemeni-American Activist and Professor, and
Jeremy Corbyn,
a lifelong campaigner for peace and justice, holding roles
in the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament, and Stop the War Coalition. Jeremy served as
Leader of the British Labour Party and Leader of the
Opposition from 2015 to 2020. |
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Date: |
January 20, 2021  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Chip Gibbons
An
expert on US Constitutional law, journalist, researcher, and
a longtime activist. He is the
Policy Director of
Defending Rights & Dissent. Chip has led a successful
campaign to defeat a proposed unconstitutional anti-boycott
bill in Maryland. He has advised both state and federal
lawmakers on the First Amendment implications of pending
legislation. His work has appeared in
Jacobin,
In These Times,
and
The Nation.
Chip authored the report "Still
Spying on Dissent: The Enduring Legacy of FBI First
Amendment Abuse".
We will speak with Chip about the new proposed “domestic
terrorism” legislation, what it means, why it would make
things worse, the FBI's "terrorism investigations" into
nonviolent groups while failing to thwart attacks by others,
state surveillance powers, and more.
Gibbon's organization, Defending Rights & Dissent, is one of
137 civil and human rights organizations that are
opposing the new domestic terrorism legislation.
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2nd
Segment:
Jehan Hakim
Yemeni
American based in California, and
Chair of the Yemeni
Alliance Committee, which advocates for ending the US
support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen by raising awareness
and pushing legislation. Previously, she served as the
Community Advocate with Asian Americans Advancing
Justice-Asian Law Caucus to support communities through
educational programs, community organizing initiatives and
empowerment and advocacy, and also served with the American
Association of Yemeni Students and Professionals.
We will speak with Jehan about the crisis in Yemen, the
ongoing war and genocide in Yemen, the upcoming
World Says No to War on Yemen Global Day of Action
scheduled for January 25, 2021, the Biden administration’s
stance towards the war on Yemen, how to stop it, and more. |
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Date: |
January 13, 2021  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Remarks & Commentary on last week's attack on the U.S.
Capitol
We will talk about last week's disastrous event at the U.S.
Capitol during the certification proceedings of
President-elect Joe Biden, and will share statements and
comments from a few organizations and individuals, including
a statement and community advisory by
the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
(ADC), statement from the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR National), and a community safety alert
issued by the local chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR Houston), statement from
the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), commentary
from James Zogby, President of the Arab American
Institute (AAI), and latest commentary from Sahar
Aziz, Professor of Law and Chancellor's Social Justice
Scholar & Director of the Center for Security, Race, and
Rights at Rutgers University Law School on "The FBI's
Racialized Priorities Endangered Our Democracy". In that
commentary, Aziz analyzes past week's siege on the Capitol,
and asks where was the FBI in the months leading up to the
violent siege on the Capitol?
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2nd
Segment:
Insurrection: A New Day
of Infamy, Rooted in Centuries Old White Supremacy!
We
will
air an episode from
Building Bridges
radio program that airs on our sister station WBAI in New
York on white supremacy and white nationalism. The episode
is titled "Insurrection: A New Day of Infamy, Rooted in
Centuries Old White Supremacy!". The guest is Eric Ward,
Executive Director and Senior Fellow at the Southern Poverty
Law Center and Race Forward, and Executive Director of
Western States Center. Eric Ward is a nationally-recognized
expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements,
hate violence, and building toward an inclusive democracy.
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3rd
Segment:
American Mirror and
Confederate Statues
We will listen to Dr. Synnika
Lofton's Topical Poem of the Week:
American Mirror and Confederate Statues.
"This week I wrapped my mind around Americas obsession with
Confederate monuments: a celebration of history or a
celebration of white supremacy?" |
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Date: |
January 6, 2021  |
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Guest/
Topic: |
Issa Amro
(in Hebron, occupied Palestine)
We
will air an interview we conducted with Issa Amro (in
Hebron, occupied Palestine) a few hours before he appeared
in an Israeli occupation military court today.
The State of Israel had brought 18 charges against Issa for
his civil disobedience and nonviolent protests against the
Israeli occupation, and today, January 6, 2021, was his day
in the Israeli occupation military court. Issa was convicted
on 6 military charges. The Judge, who is an Israeli
colonizer living on stolen Palestinian land, told Issa he is
not allowed to protest against the Israeli occupation
peacefully without a permit from the Israeli occupation
forces!!! The sentencing hearing for the 6 charges is set
for February 8, 2021.
Issa Amro is a Palestinian activist and human rights
defender based in Hebron, occupied Palestine. He is the
former coordinator and co-founder of the grassroots group
Youth Against Settlements. Issa won the 2009 One World Media
award for coordinating the B’Tselem camera distribution
project, and in 2010, he was declared "human rights defender
of the year in Palestine" by the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In 2013, the
United Nations Human Rights Council expressed concern for
his well-being and safety due to numerous accounts of
harassment from Israeli soldiers and settlers and a series
of arbitrary arrests. Issa was arrested numerous times by
the Israeli occupation army. In 2017, Bernie Sanders along
with 3 U.S. Senators and 32 Congressmen wrote to Secretary
of State Rex Tillerson, at that time, to urge Israeli
authorities to reconsider the charges against him. In late
September 2017, after being released on bail from Israeli
occupation jail, Issa Amro met Bernie Sanders and members of
Congress in Washington, D.C.
Stand With Issa |
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Date: |
December 30, 2020  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
President Trump’s Pardoning of Blackwater Mercenaries who
Murdered Iraqi Civilians
We will air a segment from Democracy Now! on President
Donald Trump’s pardoning of 4 former Blackwater mercenaries
convicted for their role in a 2007 massacre in Iraq where
they murdered Iraqi civilians, including a 9-year-old Iraqi
boy Ali Kinani. The segment includes an interview with the
lawyer who sued Blackwater over the massacre, and also
includes a short documentary featuring an interview with
Mohammed Kinani, Ali Kinani’s father.
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2nd
Segment:
“CIA and Mossad:
Tradeoffs in the Formation of the U.S.-Israel Strategic
Relationship”
We
will listen to a talk titled “CIA and Mossad: Tradeoffs in
the Formation of the U.S.-Israel Strategic Relationship” by
Jefferson Morley, a veteran Washington investigative
reporter and author of “The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA
Spymaster James Jesus Angleton”. He delivered those remarks
at The Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference held in
March 2018 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. |
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Date: |
December 23, 2020  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Reverend Dr. Mitri Raheb
We
will air an interview we conducted previously with the
Reverend Dr. Mitri Raheb, President of Dar al-Kalima
University of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem, Palestine, and
Co-Founder of Bright Stars of Bethlehem, where we talked
about the Palestinian City of Bethlehem, where Jesus was
born, Palestinian Christians, life under Israeli occupation,
and much more. We will also listen to a talk he gave on
“Seven Things You Never Knew About Palestine and Palestinian
Christians”, as well as his new 2020 Christmas message to
the world.
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2nd
Segment:
Reverend Erica N.
Williams
We
will
air powerful remarks by the Reverend Erica N. Williams,
speaking for Black Christians for Palestine, describing what
she witnessed while travelling from occupied Bethlehem to
occupied East Jerusalem in Palestine, and a whole lot more.
In her talk she says "Our movements today call as well for
Palestinians to be free. Too many Palestinians have already
died while you all wait to decide which side you will be on.
We cannot wait… We will not wait… PALESTINIAN LIVES MATTER
and we the global civil society are organizing and building
power together around the world." |
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Date: |
December 16, 2020  |
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Guest: |
Dr.
Mubarak Awad
World-renowned
activist, scholar, advocate of nonviolent resistance, and
founder and president of
Nonviolence International, an organization aimed at
promoting peace education and nonviolent action in dealing
with political and social issues, and works with various
movements and organizations across the globe.
Dr. Awad is a Palestinian-American, born and raised in
Jerusalem, Palestine. He promoted nonviolent resistance to
Israel's occupation before and during the first Palestinian
Intifada. He was the founder and former president of the
National Youth Advocate Program in the United States. In
1983 he established the Palestinian Centre for the Study of
Nonviolence in Jerusalem. In 1988, he was deported by Israel
after being jailed 42 times for organizing activities
involving nonviolent civil disobedience. In 2014, he was
named “The Palestinian Gandhi” by Newsweek. Dr. Awad has
published several papers and lectured on nonviolence as a
technique for resisting the Israeli occupation, and has been
teaching classes in the theories and methods of nonviolence
at the American University in Washington, D.C. since the
early 1990s.
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Topics: |
We
will speak with Dr. Mubarak Awad about his activism and
nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation before and
during the first Palestinian Intifada that started 33 years
ago this month, and then we will speak with him about the
conflict between Morocco and Western Sahara, the people of
Western Sahara and their right to self-determination,
President Trump's recognition of Morocco's illegal
sovereignty over the Western Sahara with a deal between
Morocco & Israel to establish full diplomatic relations, how
this conflict should be resolved, should Biden reverse
Trump's decision, and more. |
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Date: |
December 9, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"The Rise, Fall, and
Rise of Israel's Biggest Racists" by David Sheen
The
Palestine Center in Washington, D.C. held a talk on the
topic "The
Rise, Fall, and Rise of Israel's Biggest Racists" on October 22, 2019. The speaker
was David Sheen, independent journalist and
filmmaker.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air that lecture.
The far-right is in ascendancy all over the
globe, and in Israel, factions once excoriated as political
pariahs for being too racist" even by Israeli standards"
have been welcomed into the halls of power by the government
itself. Why does Netanyahu's ruling Likud party rehabilitate
the most reactionary American-born rabbis and their local
acolytes at the vanguard of Israel's eliminationist
movement? How have their extensive efforts to turn all of
Israel*Palestine (and territories beyond) into a single
racially pure religious state escaped the attention of the
mainstream media, for decades? A scandalous report from
inside Jewish Israeli society by local journalist and human
rights defender David Sheen that will leave you demanding
answers - and action - before it is too late.
David Sheen is an
independent journalist, born in Canada, now
reports from the ground in Israel*Palestine for outlets like
Middle East Eye, The New Arab and Electronic Intifada. His
work focuses on racial tensions and religious extremism, and
in recent years, he has lectured on these topics at dozens
of US universities and over half a dozen European
parliaments. In 2017, the Irish human rights group Front
Line Defenders recognized Sheen as a Human Rights Defender
for his reporting. See more of Sheens work at his website:
www.davidsheen.com |
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Date: |
December 2, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Marc Lamont Hill's UN
Remarks
We
will air today the remarks Dr. Marc Lamont Hill delivered at
the United Nations two years ago this week, in
November 2018, at a special meeting of the
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the
Palestinian People, marking the International Day of
Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
One day after his speech at the
UN where he
called for equal rights for all in historic Palestine,
professor Hill was fired from his position as a commentator
for CNN.
Marc Lamont Hill is an academic, author, activist, and
television personality. He is a Professor of Media Studies
and Urban Education at Temple University in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. He was the host of the syndicated television
show Our
World with Black Enterprise and
hosts the online Internet-based HuffPost
Live.
He is also a BET News correspondent, and a former political
commentator for CNN and Fox News.
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Muhammad Sahimi
Interview
with Dr. Muhammad Sahimi about the assassination of the
senior Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and its
significance, Israel's role in the assassination (Israel has
been targeting and assassinating Iranian and Iraqi
scientists for years), was the assassination timed to
provoke Iran to retaliate and then use that to launch an
attack (by the US and/or Israel) on Iran before Trump
departs office, US-Iranian relations now and what to expect
under Biden, Iran's options, the current situation in Iran
as a result of the economic sanctions, and much more.
Dr. Sahimi is a professor at the University of Southern
California in Los Angeles. For the past two decades, he has
published extensively on Iran's political developments and
its nuclear program. He was a founding lead political
analyst for the website PBS/Frontline: Tehran Bureau, and
has published extensively in major websites and print media.
Professor Sahimi is also the editor and publisher of Iran
News and Middle East Reports. |
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Date: |
November 25, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Ahmed Mansour & Ayah El-Fahmawi
Interview with Ahmed Mansour and
Ayah El-Fahmawi,
two members of the Organizing Committee for
the upcoming online global
Palestine Writes Literature Festival, scheduled to be
held December 2-6, 2020.
Ahmed Mansour
Documentary
filmmaker who was born and raised in the Gaza Strip,
occupied Palestine. He did his Masters at NYU Arthur L.
Carter Journalism Institute, News and Documentary Program.
His debut film "Brooklyn Inshallah", a feature documentary
on the first Palestinian to ever run for the NY City
Council, was released in 2019 and premièred at prestigious
film festivals such as DOC NYC and TPFF. He was named the
2019 MountainFilm Emerging Filmmaker Fellow based in
Telluride, Colorado. He has spoken to audiences at Duke
University, Columbia University and the Washington Center
for Narrative Studies about his journey with filmmaking as a
result of 2014 Israel's attack against Gaza.
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Ayah El-Fahmawi
Palestinian
American poet and performance artist originally from
Tulkarem and Kofr Al-Labad in occupied Palestine. She was
the 2018 second place recipient of the Ghassan Kanafani
Resistance Arts Scholarship and her work appears in the
anthology titled We Feel a Country In Our Bones. Her work
explores diasporic identity and the importance of
storytelling in resistance.
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2nd
Segment:
Richard Silverstein
Freelance
journalist who writes the
Tikun Olam blog, devoted to exposing secrets of Israel's
national security state. His work has appeared in Haaretz,
the Middle East Eye, The Nation, the New Arab, the Guardian,
the Los Angeles Times, the Forward, and the Seattle Times.
He contributed to the essay collection devoted to the 2006
Lebanon war, A Time to Speak Out, and has another essay in
the collection, Israel and Palestine: Alternate Perspectives
on Statehood.
We will speak with Richard about President-elect Joe Biden's
selection of Tony Blinken as his Secretary of State, and
what that means for the U.S. foreign policy under
Biden-Harris. We will also talk about the current Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo's recent visit to the illegal Israeli
colonies in the occupied West Bank, and the occupied Syrian
Golan Heights, and Pompeo's announcements that the US would
label products made in Israeli colonies as "Made in Israel",
and the US designation of three of the worlds leading human
rights groups as well as the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions
movement (BDS) for Palestinian rights as anti-Semitic. |
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Date: |
November 18, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Congresswoman Betty
McCollum's Remarks on Palestine at the UN
Representative
Betty McCollum (Minnesota) delivered remarks on Palestine at
the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the
Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People meeting held on
November 12, 2020. Representative McCollum has been a vocal
supporter of Palestinian human rights, and critical of
Israeli human rights abuses of the Palestinians.
During her remarks at the UN, she said “Palestinian dreams
for freedom, justice, equality, and self-determination are
legitimate. Every Palestinian mother and father want a life
free from military occupation and systemic discrimination
for their child. And, every Palestinian child’s life is
precious.”
Today on
Arab Voices, we will air the remarks she delivered at that
meeting.
Representative McCollum has introduced a bill (2017 and
2019) that would prohibit the use of U.S. military funding
by Israel to detain Palestinian children: It is called
“Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living
Under Israeli Military Occupation Act” or H.R. 2407. The
bill places conditions on U.S. security assistance to any
country, including Israel, and prohibits U.S. tax dollars
from being used to support or enable the military detention
of Palestinian children. In August 2020, she introduced
another bill called the “Israeli Annexation Non-Recognition
Act”, or H.R. 8050. This bill prohibits any U.S. government
agency or department from extending assistance or legitimacy
to any area of the Occupied West Bank annexed by Israel.
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Shireen Al-Adeimi
Interview
with Dr. Shireen Al-Adeimi about the U.S.-supported
Saudi-led genocide in Yemen, the dire situation inside Yemen, the
U.S. involvement, expectations from the Biden presidency,
how to end the war, and much more.
Dr. Shireen Al-Adeimi is a Yemeni-American activist,
graduate of Harvard University, and
assistant professor of education at Michigan State
University. Having lived through two civil wars in her
country of birth, Yemen, she has played an active role in
raising awareness about the U.S.-supported, Saudi-led war on
Yemen since 2015. Through her work, she aims to encourage
political action among fellow Americans to bring about an
end to the U.S. intervention in Yemen.
Dr. Al-Adeimi's latest article is titled "Biden
Must End the War He Helped Start". |
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Date: |
November 11, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti
Interview
with Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti about the U.S. elections and
its outcome, the U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle
East, president Trump's actions while in office,
expectations from president-elect Biden, Arab-Americans
elected to office in 2020, activism, the work ahead to make
a change, and more.
Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti is a Historian, Associate
Professor, the inaugural holder of the Arab-American
Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History, and the
Founding Director of the Center for Arab Studies, at the
University of Houston. His research focuses on the history
of revolutions, anti-colonialism, global intellectual
currents, and state-building in the modern Arab world. Dr.
Takriti is the author of “Monsoon
Revolution: Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in Oman,
1965-1976”. He also co-authored, with Karma Nabulsi, the
digital humanities initiative the “Palestinian
Revolution" website, which offers a wealth of primary
sources on Palestinian history from the 1948 Nakba to the
1982 Siege of Beirut.
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2nd
Segment:
“My life as a child
living under Israeli Military Occupation” by Janna Jihad
A
talk by Janna Jihad, the youngest officially registered
journalist in the world, a 13-year old Palestinian from the
village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, speaking
about her life as a child living under the Israeli
occupation.
It was a talk delivered at the
Palestine Center
in Washington, D.C.,
in July 2019. |
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Date: |
November 4, 2020  |
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Topic: |
In
Memoriam: Robert Fisk's Lecture on "Reporting From the Front
Line: The Middle East and The Challenge To Tell The Truth"
Robert
Fisk, award-winning veteran journalist who was the Middle
East Correspondent for the British newspaper The
Independent, and was based in Beirut, Lebanon, passed
away on October 30, 2020, in Ireland at the age of 74. Fisk
was critical of the US imperialism and foreign policy in the
Middle East, as well as Israel's occupation of Palestine. He
won more journalism awards than any other journalists did.
He won the Press Awards Foreign Reporter of the Year seven
times. Robert Fisk authored six books, including "Pity the
Nation: Lebanon at War", and "The Great War for Civilisation:
The Conquest of the Middle East".
In 2014, Robert Fisk delivered a lecture at Rice University
in Houston. He spoke on the topic "Reporting From the Front
Line: The Middle East and The Challenge To Tell The Truth".
It was an event organized by the Arab-American Educational
Foundation in Houston.
Today on Arab Voices, we will re-air that lecture in memory
of Mr. Fisk.
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Date: |
October 28, 2020  |
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Guest: |
Amer
Zahr
Arab-American
comedian, writer, speaker, activist, academic, commentator,
adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School
of Law, and author of the book “Being Palestinian Makes Me
Smile”. He is also author of
The Civil
Arab blog.
Amer draws on his experiences growing up as a child of
Palestinian refugees, performing and lecturing throughout
North America (including Houston), Canada, Europe, and the
Arab world on topics like politics, society, growing up
Arab, Islam, and more.
Amer Zahr holds a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern and
North Africa Studies and is also a graduate of the
University of Michigan Law School with a JD degree. He
writes and speaks widely on political and social affairs,
and has appeared on radio and television. Some of his
writings have been featured in major publications, including
Time Magazine, and Al-Jazeera.
In 2016 and 2020, Amer served as a surrogate for
presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
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Topic: |
We will speak with Amer Zahr about the U.S. elections and
the Arab American participation. |
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Date: |
October 21, 2020  |
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Topic: |
2020
Edward Said Memorial Lecture with Daphne Muse
The Intersections of Our Resistance and the Legacies We
Leave Future Generations
The
Palestine Center in Washington, D.C. held its annual
Edward Said Memorial Lecture on October 7, 2020. The speaker
was Daphne Muse, a writer, poet, cultural broker, and
Veteran of the Civil Rights Movement. In this lecture,
Daphne Muse discusses the similarities and intersections
between Palestinian and Black struggles for equality and
justice, as well as their implications for the future.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air that lecture and some of
the questions and answers that followed.
Daphne Muse is a writer, poet, cultural broker, and Veteran
of the Civil Rights Movement. When she was a teenager her
parents seeded an enduring bond with the people of
Palestine. She became an activist while a student at Fisk
University working with the anti-war movement and the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Her
activism evolved during her time managing Drum and Spear
Bookstore and while serving as a secretary to the Legal
Defense Team for the Angela Davis Trial. Her essays,
reviews, and social commentaries have appeared in scores of
publications including Black Scholar, The Atlantic, This
Week in Palestine, and aired on NPR. As a writer, lecturer,
retired educator, and in partnership with the Imagining
America Consortium, she continues to mentor activists and
creatives around the world. She has lived in Northern
California since 1971. |
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Date: |
October 14, 2020  |
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Topic: |
Texas State Board of Education District 6 Candidate Forum
Today
on Arab Voices, we will air the recording of the
informational forum held on October 8, 2020, with two
candidates running for the Texas State Board of Education
District 6 seat,
Mr. Will Hickman (R), and
Ms. Michelle Palmer (D). Ms. Whitney Bilyeu (L) was
unable to attend due to prior commitments.
The forum was organized by the
Arab-American Educational Foundation, and it addressed
several important topics, including candidates'
qualifications and why they are running for this position,
changes they think are needed in Texas schools
and to the curriculum or
textbooks,
what they want students to learn in relations to History,
their position on the State of Texas plan to take over the
Houston Independent School District (HISD), how the word
"terrorism" is covered in Texas Essential Knowledge and
Skills (TEKS) world history standards where the only use of
that word is in the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” and
the message such phrasing is sending to students, the way
History books reference occupied Palestine and Israel and
whether they will pursue books that list truth/real facts on
that matter, Texas law that prohibits state agencies from
contracting with companies that boycott Israel, and more.
Please note that early voting in Texas started on October 13
and continues through October 30, and Election Day is
November 3, 2020. For more information on voting, visit
www.vote.org. |
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Date: |
October 7, 2020  |
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Topic: |
“Stopping Israel’s Arms Industry”
The Electronic Intifada
released a new podcast titled “Stopping Israel’s Arms
Industry”.
It features several boycott campaigners taking direct action
against corporations involved in Israel’s military
occupation and settlement industry, including Huda Ammori
of
Palestine Action in the UK, and Dalit Baum
and Noam Perry of the
American
Friends Service Committee in the US.
In this podcast, Nora Barrows-Friedman and Asa
Winstanley, co-hosts of the Electronic Intifada Podcast,
discuss this topic with the guests, and some of their recent
articles.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air “Stopping Israel’s Arms
Industry" podcast by the Electronic Intifada. |
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Date: |
September
30, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Dennis Johnson on the 2020 Census
As we approach the new deadline (October 5, 2020) to submit the 2020 Census, we will
air a previous interview we conducted with
Dennis Johnson,
Deputy Regional Director of the
2020 U.S. Census,
talking about the Census, its
importance, who will be counted, changes/what's new to the
2020 Census, important dates, how to participate, and much more.
On Monday, September 28, 2020, the Secretary of Commerce
announced a target date of October 5, 2020, to conclude the
2020 Census self-response and field data collection
operations.
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2nd
Segment:
"Race & Ethnicity
Question on US Census"
We
will air a talk on "Race & Ethnicity Question on US Census"
hosted by the
Arab
American Institute in July 2020 between
Maya Berry,
Executive Director of the Arab American Institute in
Washington, D.C., and
Dr. Rita Stephan,
Director of the Middle East Partnership Initiative at the
U.S. Department of State. |
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Date: |
September
23, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"The End Game In the
Middle East - Dr. Tim Anderson" by Guns and Butter
Guns
and Butter program, which airs on our sister station
WBAI in New York, interviewed Dr. Tim Anderson to
discuss his new book, "Axis of Resistance: Towards an
Independent Middle East".
Today on Arab Voices, we will air that interview.
Dr. Tim Anderson is Director of the Centre for Counter
Hegemonic Studies in Sydney, Australia. He was for 20
years an academic in Political Economy at the University of
Sydney and before that taught at other universities. He
researches and writes on development, rights and
self-determination in Latin America, the Asia-Pacific and
the Middle East. He has published dozens of articles in a
range of academic books and journals.
From Guns
and Butter: The 21st century wars against Middle Eastern countries are
bringing them together in what the author terms an ‘axis of
resistance’ that includes Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,
Palestine and Yemen; what is most feared by American and
Israeli strategists is an Iranian Land Bridge consisting of
infrastructural links and integration between Tehran and the
Mediterranean, including road, rail, communications, oil and
gas pipelines and defense collaboration; characterization of
empires and imperialism; the nature of Iran’s leadership
role; Russia’s role within the ‘axis of resistance’ and its
relationship with Israel; all terrorist groups have been
backed by the US-led coalition; final stages of the failed
war on Syria; devastating economic sanctions on the entire
region; White Helmets; human organ trafficking; all claims
of chemical weapon use by the Syrian government a
fabrication; war on Syria was never a civil war; the
assassination of Iranian General Soleimani and Iraqi Abu
Mahdi al-Muhandis and others have resulted in a call to
expel US forces from the entire region. Aired in
January 2020. |
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Date: |
September
16, 2020  |
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Guest: |
Dr. Khalil Jahshan
Executive Director of the
Arab Center
Washington DC, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank
focusing on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, as well
as furthering economic, political, and social understanding
of the Arab World in the United States. He is a
Palestinian-American political analyst and media
commentator. He previously served as Executive Director at
Pepperdine University, Executive Vice President of the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and
director of its government affairs affiliate (NAAA-ADC),
Vice President of the American Committee on Jerusalem,
President of the National Association of Arab Americans,
National Director of the Association of Arab-American
University Graduates (AAUG), Assistant Director of Palestine
Research and Educational Center, and Lecturer in Arabic at
the University of Chicago Extension and at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois. Mr. Jahshan has served on
the boards of directors, and advisory boards of various
Middle East-oriented groups, including ANERA, MIFTAH and
Search for Common Ground.
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Topic: |
We will speak with Dr. Jahshan about the
deals Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed with
Israel on September 15, 2020, brokered by the United States
to establish full diplomatic relations, what may have
motivated them to do so, the opposition to the deals within
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian
reaction to it (calling the deals betrayal and a stab in the
back), what should the Palestinians be doing moving forward,
and more. |
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Date: |
September
9, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"A History of Activist Repression" by
Zoha Khalili
On April 15, 2019, Zoha Khalili spoke at the University of
Houston Law Center on the topic "A History of Activist
Repression". She delivered a historical analysis of activist
repression in the United States, examples of the types of
suppressions that people have faced when engaging in
advocacy, and the types of issues that have affected people
advocating for Palestine, lessons to learn, Dos and Don'ts,
resources, and more.
During her lecture and the Q&A session that followed, she
talked about Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Black
Panthers, American Indian Movement, COINTELPRO (COunter
INTELligence PROgram), the different forms of propaganda,
the Espionage and Sedition Acts, loyalty oaths,
surveillance, infiltrators, informants, pro-Palestinian
groups, deportation of Palestinian activists, BDS movement,
BDS laws, Israel Anti-Boycott Act, Counter Violent Extremism
(CVE), and more.
Zoha
Khalili is a staff attorney for
Palestine Legal. She provides legal advice and advocacy
support to Palestine rights activists, students and
professors on the West Coast on issues ranging from free
speech violations, discrimination, threats, surveillance and
disciplinary charges. Zoha's legal career has been devoted
to defending the rights of marginalized communities.
The event was organized by Defend Our Voice Coalition
at the University of Houston.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air that lecture and some of
the questions and answers that followed. |
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Date: |
September
2, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"Racism, Social Equity,
and Health Care Disparities in the Time of COVID-19"
A
discussion organized by the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
CAIR-Houston.
The guest speaker was Dr. Ayesha Khan, Infectious
Diseases Scientist and Clinical Microbiologist at UTHealth.
She is also a Grassroots Organizer of COVID-19’s impact on
marginalized communities and our role in confronting racial
health disparities.
The discussion focused on how our community can center
social justice to overcome COVID-19 and prepare for the next
pandemic, and that working together, we can dismantle the
root cause of bad health in minority communities-systemic
racism.
This discussion was held on August 26, 2020, and was
moderated by Ambreen Hernandez, CAIR-Houston
Communications and Program Coordinator. The discussion also
included Rawan Harirah, with CAIR-Houston Board of
Directors, who is also an Administrative Coordinator at the
University of Texas Medical Branch. |
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Date: |
August
26, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"The Movement and the Middle
East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American
Left" by Dr. Michael R. Fischbach
The Palestine
Center in
Washington, D.C., held a book talk event on February 20,
2020, titled "The
Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Divided the American Left".
The guest speaker was
Dr. Michael R. Fischbach, Professor of History at
Randolph-Macon College. Today on Arab Voices, we will air
that talk and some of the questions and answers that
followed.
The Movement and the Middle East offers the first assessment
of the controversial and ultimately debilitating role of the
Arab-Israeli conflict among left-wing activists during a
turbulent period of American history. Michael R. Fischbach
draws on a deep well of original sources—from personal
interviews to declassified FBI and CIA documents—to present
a story of the left-wing responses to the question of
Palestine and Israel. He shows how, as the 1970s wore on,
the cleavages emerging within the American Left widened,
weakening the Movement and leaving a lasting impact that
still affects progressive American politics today.
Michael R. Fischbach is Professor of History at
Randolph-Macon College, and the author of numerous
publications and books including, Black Power and Palestine:
Transnational Countries of Color (Stanford University Press,
2018), Jewish Property Claims Against Arab Countries
(Columbia University Press, 2008), The Peace Process and
Palestinian Refugee Claims: Addressing Claims for Property
Compensation and Restitution (United States Institute of
Peace Press, 2006), and Records of Dispossession:
Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
(Columbia University Press, 2003; American University of
Cairo Press, 2004). He was awarded grants by The MacArthur
Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace, and has
presented at numerous academic and diplomatic settings in
sixteen countries on four continents. |
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Date: |
August
19, 2020  |
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Guest: |
Dr.
Ramzy Baroud
Palestinian-American
journalist, media consultant, author,
internationally-syndicated columnist, and editor of
Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of several books
and a contributor to many others. His latest book is titled
"These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of
Struggles and Defiance in Israeli Prisons". His work has
been published in hundreds of newspapers and journals
worldwide, and his work is regularly translated and
republished in French, Spanish, Arabic and other languages.
Ramzy Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the
University of Exeter.
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Topic: |
We will speak with Dr. Baroud about the daily Israeli
airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip in occupied Palestine
(that no one talks about anymore) where nearly two million
Palestinians live in horrific conditions as a result of the
ongoing Israeli attacks, blockade and strangulation of the
Gaza Strip, the ongoing Israeli attacks and targeting of
fishermen in Gaza, Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes
in occupied Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, and also in
Palestinian Bedouin areas in the Negev region, Israeli
colonizers' terrorist acts against Palestinians and their
properties, uprooting of Palestinian olive and palm trees
and targeting and burning Palestinian farms, and the ongoing
extra-judicial executions of Palestinians.
We will also talk about the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
treaty with Israel, the US stance towards occupied
Palestine, the US elections and where Trump-Pence and
Biden-Harris stand on occupied Palestine, what should the
Palestinian leadership and Palestinians throughout the world
do, and more. |
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Date: |
August
12, 2020  |
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Guest/
Topic: |
Dr. Rania Masri
(in Beirut, Lebanon)
Dr.
Rania Masri is a lecturer and political and social justice
activist. She is an elected representative of the Lebanese
political party
Citizens in
a State, which seeks to end Lebanon's sectarian
political system.
Rania is in Lebanon and was there when the
horrific explosion shook the Lebanese capital, Beirut,
killed at least 163, wounded more than 6,000, destroyed and
damaged thousands of residential and commercial buildings,
left more than 300,000 people homeless, and there are still
many people missing, under the rubble!
We will speak with Dr. Rania Masri (in
Beirut, Lebanon) about what she witnessed, the effect of the
catastrophic explosion on Lebanon and the Lebanese people,
Lebanon's corrupt sectarian political system, the collapse
of the economic and financial systems, unemployment,
electricity, water, the ongoing protests that started months
ago against corruption, what is needed to make a real change
and get rid of the sectarian and corrupt political system in
Lebanon, and more. |
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Date: |
August 5, 2020  |
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|
Arab
Voices extends its deepest condolences to the Lebanese
people in Lebanon, in Houston and all over the world for the
tragic losses as a result of the horrific explosion that
rocked the Lebanese Capital Beirut and killed over 100 and
injured thousands. The explosion caused massive destruction
throughout Beirut and neighboring cities and villages. It
came at a time when Lebanon was already going through tough
times. The American Lebanese Cultural Center in Houston is
asking those who want to donate and support the relief
efforts, to do so by making a donation to the Lebanese Red
Cross (link posted at
www.ALCChouston.org).
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Topic: |
Radio New Zealand Interview with Robert Fisk
Today
on Arab Voices, we will listen to an interview conducted by
Radio New Zealand with Robert Fisk (recorded in May 2020), veteran war
correspondent, who spent the past 40 years living in war
zones covering conflicts in the Middle East, the Balkans and
Ireland. In this interview, Fisk says journalists and
editors cower from reporting honestly because of corporate
and political influence, and he cites several examples
including how reporters refer to the Israeli colonies as
settlements, the Israeli wall as a security fence and the
Israeli wars on the Palestinians as disputes. |
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Date: |
July 29, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"Vampire trouble is more serious than the mighty plague: A
comparative look at the history of evil and mischief,
inspired by Evliya Çelebi (1611–ca. 1684")
by Cemal Kafadar
On
February 28, 2020, the Arab-American Educational Foundation
Chair at the University of Houston, sponsored the 2020
Annual Lecture in Ottoman History on "Vampire trouble is
more serious than the mighty plague: A comparative look at
the history of evil and mischief, inspired by Evliya Çelebi
(1611–ca. 1684") by Cemal Kafadar.
Cemal Kafadar is the Vehbi Koç Professor of Turkish Studies
at the Department of History at Harvard University, where he
is also the Director of Graduate Studies and Acting Director
at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He has written
extensively on the social and cultural history of the Middle
East and Southeastern Europe in the Late Medieval/Early
Modern era and he teaches courses on the Ottoman Empire,
urban space, popular culture as well as the history of
cinema.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the
University of Houston, but because at that time there was a
city-wide water main break, the University of Houston was
closed, and the event was moved to Rice University.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air Dr. Kafadar’s remarks on
"Vampire trouble is more serious than the mighty plague: A
comparative look at the history of evil and mischief,
inspired by Evliya Çelebi (1611–ca. 1684"). |
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Date: |
July 22, 2020  |
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Topic: |
The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
We
will air an episode from CODEPINK Radio that airs on our
sister stations WPFW in Washington D.C., and WBAI in New
York, on “The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen”.
CODEPINK, is a women-led grassroots organization working to
end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights
initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare,
education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs.
In its latest radio episode, CODEPINK national co-director,
Ariel Gold, who appeared on Arab Voices before, interviews
Shireen Al-Adeimi
and
Hassan El-Tayyab.
Al-Adeimi is a Yemeni-American activist and educator, who
also appeared on Arab Voices a few times before, that
discusses the history of Yemen in regards to its politics
and how an internal struggle led to the U.S.-Saudi
intervention that has terrorized the country. El-Tayyab is a
legislative manager for Middle East Policy at the Friends
Committee on National Legislation that elaborates how Yemen
is the world's worst humanitarian crisis and the pandemic
has only worsened its situation with children suffering the
most from malnutrition, disease, poverty, and more; even so,
aid to Yemen has been drastically cut. |
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Date: |
July 15, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Houston Day of Rage Car Caravan Against Annexation
We
will air remarks delivered by several attendees at the
"Houston Day of Rage Car Caravan Against Annexation" that
was held on Saturday, July 11, 2020, in which hundreds of
people with more than 150 vehicles participated in the
caravan that traveled more than 8 miles through busy
Houston roads to reach the Consulate General of Israel, to
protest the Zionist Israeli Annexation plan for the occupied
Palestinian West Bank. We will also air remarks delivered by
representatives from the sponsoring organizations including
Mohammed Nabulsi with
the
Palestinian American Cultural Center and
Palestinian Youth Movement,
Eman Elhaj with the
Palestinian
American Council, Sinan
Shaibani with
RISE-Houston, and Alex Kerry
with
Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of
Houston.
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
We
will air portions of an interview previously conducted with
Dr. Rashid Khalidi, the
Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia
University in New York, editor of
the Journal
of Palestine Studies,
and author of many books including
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler
Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017,
on the Israeli annexation plan, Trump’s so called “deal of
the century”, the BDS movement, and more. |
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Date: |
July
8, 2020 |
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|
Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday, July
8, 2020, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of
Billy Wardlow.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. |
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Date: |
July
1, 2020  |
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Topic: |
Israel's
Annexation Plan for the Occupied West Bank
Today on Arab Voices, we will talk about the Israeli
annexation plan of 30% of the occupied West Bank in occupied
Palestine. We will read a strong letter sent by
Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
and signed by 13 members of the U.S. Congress, to Mike
Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, asking him to take the
necessary action needed to reverse Israel’s plan for
annexation, and also promises in the letter to “pursue
legislation that conditions the $3.8 billion in U.S.
military funding to Israel to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are
not supporting annexation in any way”.
We will also
share the reaction of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights,
Michelle Bachelet
on the annexation plan, and listen to a few remarks
delivered at the United Nations Security Council and at a
special United Nations forum on “the Question of Palestine:
Threats of Annexation and the Prospects for Peace” by UN
Secretary-General
António Guterres,
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi,
Member of the PLO Executive Committee,
Dr. Riyad Mansour,
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations,
Dr. Riyad Al-Maliki,
Palestinian Foreign Minister, and
Alvin Botes,
South Africa’s Deputy Minister of International Relations
and Cooperation. |
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Date: |
June
24, 2020  |
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Topic: |
“It’s
easy to say Black Lives Matter”
The Electronic Intifada
released a new podcast titled “It’s
easy to say Black Lives Matter”.
It is a discussion on Black-Palestinian solidarity in the
context of the current US uprisings against police violence,
and what it means to internationalize liberation struggles.
It features Kristian Davis Bailey, co-founder of
Black for Palestine, and Ajamu Baraka,
scholar, writer, former Green Party vice presidential
candidate, an editor with
Black Agenda Report, and the national organizer for
The Black Alliance for Peace. Also in this podcast,
Nora Barrows-Friedman and Asa Winstanley,
co-hosts of the Electronic Intifada Podcast, discuss this
global moment with revolutionary potential, and some of
their recent articles.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air “It’s
easy to say Black Lives Matter" podcast by the Electronic Intifada. |
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Date: |
June
17, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"Anti-Blackness and The Palestinian Struggle" by Dr. Melina
Abdullah and Dr. Gerald Horne
Several
student organizations at the University of Houston organized
a discussion about the intersections of anti-blackness and
the Palestinian struggle. The event centered on systemic
injustices both communities face and how University of
Houston students can unite against these forms of
oppression.
The event was sponsored by the UH History
Department, and was held on October 8, 2018.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to the
remarks delivered at the event on the way blacks were
treated in the U.S., the struggle for black people and being
slaves, Black Lives Matter movement, Police abuse, killing
of black people, the struggles for justice, the importance
of understanding what is happening to blacks in the U.S. and
how that parallels to what is happening to the Palestinian
people, how the struggle for black freedom in the U.S. is
intrinsically tied to the struggle of oppressed people
around the globe, especially the Palestinian people, how
freedom is a constant struggle, U.S. foreign policy, BDS
movement, settler colonialism, and much more.
Speakers:
Dr.
Melina Abdullah, Professor and Chair of Pan-African Studies at California
State University, Los Angeles. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A.
from the University of Southern California in Political
Science and her B.A. from Howard University in African
American Studies. She was appointed to the Los Angeles
County Human Relations Commission in 2014 and is a
recognized expert on race, gender, class, and social
movements. Abdullah is the author of numerous articles and
book chapters, with subjects ranging from political
coalition building to womanist mothering. Most notably, she
has appeared on the featured film 13th. Melina is the
recipient of many awards, most recently the 2016 Racial
Justice Award presented by the YWCA.
Dr. Gerald Horne, holder
of the Moores Professorship of History and African American
Studies. His research has addressed issues of racism in a
variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil
rights, international relations and war. He has also written
extensively about the film industry. Dr. Horne received his
Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and his J.D. from
the University of California, Berkeley and his B.A. from
Princeton University. Dr. Horne's undergraduate and graduate
courses include the Civil Rights Movement, U.S. History
through Film, Diplomatic History, Labor History, and 20th
Century African American History. Dr. Horne is the author of
more than thirty books and one hundred scholarly articles
and reviews. |
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Date: |
June
10, 2020  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Arab & Muslim American Organizations' Response to George
Floyd's Murder
On
June 9, 2020, George Floyd was laid to rest in Houston,
Texas. Floyd was a 46-year-old Black-American man who was
killed on May 25, 2020, by a Minneapolis police officer,
while he was handcuffed and lying face down on a city
street. Floyd's murder has caused outrage and protests
across the world.
Several Arab-American and Muslim-American organizations, as
well as many individuals from the community participated at
several rallies and protests held last week in Houston, and
also attended the public viewing and funeral of George
Floyd. Numerous organizations from across the world issued
strong statements condemning the murder of George Floyd,
including several national Arab-American and Muslim-American
organizations.
Today on Arab Voices, we will talk about the Arab-American
and Muslim-American response to the murder of George Floyd,
and share statements issued in this regard by the
Arab
American Cultural and Community Center (ACC Houston),
the Islamic
Society of Greater Houston (ISGH), the
Council
on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston), the
Palestinian American Cultural Center (PACC-Houston),
Birzeit Society (Houston Chapter),
Students for Justice in Palestine (Houston Chapter), and
the
Palestinian Youth Movement (Houston Chapter).
We will also talk about the knee-over-neck tactic used by
the Police, where did that come from, what kind of training
provides that, and how thousands of police officers from
different cities in the U.S., including Minneapolis, are
being trained by Israel (a topic that will be discussed in
more details on a future show)!
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2nd
Segment:
Joe Meadors
This
week, marks the 53rd anniversary of the deadly Israeli
attack on the
USS Liberty, a
signal intelligence platform ship, in the Eastern
Mediterranean Sea when it was brutally attacked on June 8, 1967,
by Israel, despite the fact that Israel knew it was a United
Stated communications ship! The attack by the Israeli
fighter jets and torpedo boats killed 34 U.S. servicemen and
injured 174 others. Joe Meadors was a U.S. Navy Signalman on the
USS Liberty when it was attacked by Israel in 1967.
Next month, July 2020, marks the 2nd anniversary of the
Israeli attack on Al-Awda ship, one of four
2018 Gaza
Freedom Flotilla ships that were carrying urgently
needed medical supplies to Gaza, when Israel intercepted the
ship in international waters on July 29, 2018, about 40
miles off the coast of Gaza, beat the captain and threatened
to kill him, repeatedly tasered
several crew members and delegates and severely injuring
some! A medical doctor, Dr. Swee Ang, who was also on board
Al-Awda ship was attacked on the head and body and
ended up with two broken ribs! Israel then hijacked Al-Awda
boat and kidnapped everyone on board including Joe Meadors,
who was the U.S. delegate on the 2018 Gaza
Freedom Flotilla.
Israel illegally detained and jailed Joe Meadors for several
days before deporting him to the United States.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air an interview we conducted
previously with Joe Meadors detailing both attacks, what he
witnessed, and how the White House intervened and ordered
U.S. fighter jets that were racing to the rescue of the USS
Liberty in 1967 (after the Sixth Fleet aircraft carrier USS
Saratoga received a distress message from the USS Liberty)
not to intercept the attack on the USS Liberty, and retreat! |
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Date: |
June 3, 2020  |
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Topic/
Guests: |
Justice for George Floyd Houston March
About
60,000 people attended the special Houston march on June 2,
2020, in downtown Houston, calling for Justice for George
Floyd, the Black American man who was murdered on May 25,
2020, by Minneapolis Police. A horrific murder that was
caught on video and caused outrage and protests across the
world.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to statements and
remarks from several participants at that special march,
including the remarks of
Bun B,
rapper and activist,
Trae tha Truth,
rapper and philanthropist,
Tamika Mallory,
activist,
Lee Merritt,
one of the attorneys representing George Floyd's family,
Sylvester
Turner,
Mayor of the City of Houston,
several members
of George Floyd's family,
Congresswoman
Sheila Jackson Lee,
Congressman
Al Green,
and pastor
John Gray. |
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Date: |
May 27, 2020  |
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Topic/
Guests: |
From Nakba to Return: The Ongoing Struggle for Palestinian
Liberation
(Part 2 of 2)
Last
week on Arab Voices, we aired some of the remarks
delivered at the "From Nakba to Return: The Ongoing Struggle
for Palestinian Liberation" event organized by the
Palestinian Youth Movement and the
National Students for Justice in Palestine that was held
on May 16, 2020, in honor of the 72nd commemoration of
the Nakba. Part 1 of 2 is already archived online at
www.ArabVoices.net.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air Part 2, and it includes
remarks from
Mohammed Nabulsi
and
Ramah Awad
talking about the Palestinian Youth Movement, National
Students for Justice in Palestine, the ongoing Palestinian
struggle for liberation, the 72nd commemoration of the Nakba,
and Ghassan Kanafani Scholarship. We will also listen to
Susan
Abulhawa,
Palestinian writer, political activist, and author of the
international bestseller, Mornings in Jenin, and
several anthologies and poetry collections, and
Lina Abojaradeh,
Palestinian-Jordanian artist and PYM Ghassan Kanafani
Resistance Arts Scholar, and the discussion between Lina and
Susan on the role of cultural production and arts as part of
the broader resistance that Palestinians engage in. |
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Date: |
May 20, 2020  |
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Topic/
Guests: |
From Nakba to Return: The Ongoing Struggle for Palestinian
Liberation
(Part 1 of 2)
May
15, 2020, marked the 72nd anniversary of the Nakba (Arabic
word for catastrophe), the mass displacement of Palestinians
from their homelands in 1948.
On May 16, 2020, the
Palestinian Youth Movement and the
National Students for Justice in Palestine, held an
online community event in honor of the 72nd commemoration of
the Nakba. Palestinian researchers, organizers, and artists
participated in the event, and talked about the history of
Palestinian displacement and refugeehood, the Nakba, as well
as the threats that COVID-19 presents to Palestinian
refugees, and how the pandemic is compounding and
exacerbating existing conditions. They also discussed and
highlighted the ongoing struggle in Palestinian refugee
camps, the Right of Return, and the role of exiled and
diasporic Palestinians and Arabs.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of the remarks
delivered at the event by
Dr. Salman Abu Sitta,
Palestinian author, founder of the
Palestine
Land Society, and researcher known for his
groundbreaking work of mapping the return of Palestinian
refugees to historic Palestine, and
Nadia Younes,
Palestinian community organizer and co-founder of
Al Naqab Center for Youth Activities in Lebanon, whose
doctoral research focuses on decolonizing education for
Palestinians in Lebanon. We will also listen to a brief
message from
Pietro Stefanini,
with
The Palestinian Return Centre in London, who spoke about
the Global
Right of Return Campaign. |
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Date: |
May 13, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Houston
Ramadan Iftar Remarks
For
the past few years and during the holy month of Ramadan, a
special Houston Iftar Dinner was being held annually and
attended by nearly 2,000 people each year, including
politicians, congress men and women, community activists and
leaders. This year, because of COVID-19, the annual Houston
Iftar event was held virtually, on May 9, 2020. Earlier on
that day, nearly 2,000 meals were distributed for pickup at
the Bayou City Event Center before the virtual broadcast of
the event.
Today on Arab
Voices, we will listen to the remarks delivered at the
virtual Iftar dinner by
Christopher Olson,
Director, Mayor's Office of Trade & International Affairs,
Muhammas
Saeed Sheikh,
Coordinator, Houston Iftar,
Imam Tauqeer
Shah, Resident
Scholar, Brand Lane Islamic Center, ISGH,
Sohail Syed,
President, Islamic Society of Greater Houston,
Murad Ajani,
President, Aga Khan Council for Southwestern US,
Shaikh Shabbir
Saifee, Dawoodi Bohra
Community Houston,
Ahmed Alyasin,
Chairman, Jordanian American Association of Houston,
Susan Young,
President, Sister Cities of Houston,
Hamza Yusuf,
President, Zaytuna College, Berkeley, CA,
Javid Anwar,
Chief Patron, Houston Iftar, and
Mayor Sylvester
Turner, City of
Houston.
The event was organized by Abu Dhabi, Baku, Basrah, Istanbul
and Karachi Sister City Associations, along
with the Islamic Society of Greater Houston and other
collaborating organizations.
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2nd
Segment:
Dennis Johnson
We will speak with Dennis Johnson,
Deputy Regional Director of the
2020 U.S. Census, about the Census, its
importance, who will be counted, changes/what's new to the
2020 Census, important dates, how to participate, and much more.
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Date: |
May 6, 2020  |
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Topic: |
Pandemics, Democracies & Dictatorships
Today
on Arab Voices, we will air a segment from the weekly public
affairs program,
Alternative Radio. It is
titled "Pandemics, Democracies & Dictatorships" by Nader
Hashemi, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies
and teaches Middle East and Islamic politics at the Korbel
School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
He is the author of "Islam, Secularism and Liberal
Democracy" and co-editor of "The People Reloaded, The Syria
Dilemma and Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of
the Middle East".
Today, fear stalks the globe. The grim reaper is taking a
heavy toll. The coronavirus pandemic has led to many
thousands of deaths and tremendous economic dislocation. In
this climate of fear, authoritarian regimes from Saudi
Arabia to Hungary, from Russia to Turkey, from Iran to the
Philippines use the crisis as a pretext to curtail civil
liberties, expand police power and surveillance, silence
their opponents, settle old scores, muzzle the press and
jail dissidents. The pattern repeats in different shapes and
forms among tyrants and would-be tyrants. Indian prime
minister Modi has thrown journalists critical of his rule in
jail. Kashmir remains under military control. In Washington,
the U.S. president has declared “ultimate authority. I call
the shots.” How can people in democratic societies
effectively respond to the current crisis? |
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Date: |
April 29, 2020  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Houston Arab Community Mutual Aid
During
these challenging and uncertain times with the outbreak of
the corona virus, the Houston Arab Community has not been
spared from the economic impact. That is why 13
organizations have joined a new coalition of Arab
organizations in the Houston community (Houston Arab
Community Mutual Aid Coalition or HACMA Coalition) to carry
forward mutual aid relief efforts to serve and support the
Arab community of Houston.
Today on Arab Voices, we will speak about the new coalition
and its goals with Mohammed Nabulsi,
Palestinian-American attorney, community organizer, and
board member with the
Palestinian American Cultural Center, one of the 13
organizations that joined the coalition.
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2nd
Segment:
“COVID-19 worsens Israel’s racism”
The Electronic Intifada
released a new podcast titled “COVID-19 worsens Israel’s
racism”, featuring
Diana Buttu,
former legal adviser and negotiator for the Palestine
Liberation Organization, and a policy advisor to Al-Shabaka:
The Palestinian Policy Network. The podcast also features a
conversation between
Nora Barrows-Friedman and Asa Winstanley
on how they are coping with coronavirus lockdown in the US
and UK, and Asa gets into a recent leaked report about
Britain’s Labour Party.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air “COVID-19 worsens Israel’s
racism" podcast by the Electronic Intifada. |
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Date: |
April 22, 2020  |
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Topic: |
“Sectarianism and
Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World” by Dr. Aziz Al-Azmeh
(previously aired program)
Rice
University and the University of Houston organized the "Arab
Traditions of Anti-Sectarianism Conference", held December
1-2, 2017 in Houston, and
was hosted by
the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chairs at Rice
University and the University of Houston.
The keynote address at the conference was delivered on
December 1, 2017 on the topic "Sectarianism and
Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World" by Dr. Aziz Al-Azmeh, University
Professor in the Department of History and Director of the
Center for Religious Studies at the Central European
University in Budapest, Hungary.
Today, on Arab Voices, we will listen to Dr.
Al-Azmeh's keynote address on
“Sectarianism and
Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World”. |
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Date: |
April 15, 2020  |
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Topic: |
CAIR-Houston's Annual
Gala:
"Defend. Educate. Empower." Part 2 of 2
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations Texas (Houston
Chapter) held its 18th Annual Gala on December 8, 2019, in Houston, under the theme "Defend.
Educate. Empower." More than 600 people including several local community members, faith
leaders, and elected officials attended the event that also
featured an awards ceremony recognizing several individuals.
It was a celebration and review of CAIR-Houston's
achievements and work in the past 18 years, and plans for
the coming year.
There were many remarks delivered at the event, and today we
will air Part 2 of 2, which will include the remarks of
Bahia Amawi,
recipient of CAIR-Houston’s Courage & Justice Award. Amawi
is a Palestinian-American speech pathologist who filed a
federal lawsuit against Pflugerville Independent School
District and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for violating
her First Amendment right of free speech and challenging
Texas Anti-BDS Act, H.B. 89., after she lost her job because
she refused to sign a “No Boycott of Israel” clause. Bahia
won her case on April 25, 2019, when a federal judge ruled
that Texas law banning state contractors from boycotting
Israel violates the First Amendment.
We will also listen to the keynote speaker,
Imam Khalid
Latif, Executive
Director and Chaplain (Imam) for the Islamic Center at New
York University (NYU). in 2007, Mayor Michael Bloomberg
nominated Imam Latif to become the youngest chaplain in
history of the New York City Police Department. Since then,
Imam Latif has dedicated himself to America's largest Police
Department, and has developed tremendously valuable skills
as a spokesperson for co-existence, mutual understanding and
productive relationships between cultures, communities and
religions. At NYU, Imam Latif has not only managed to build
a strong Muslim institution at NYU, but he has offered his
experience and awareness to the U.S. State Department,
various institutions, corporations, mosques and other
communities in the United States, Canada, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Spain and Egypt. He is a highly sought-after
speaker, offering to diverse audiences his unique blend of
motivational speaking, leadership insights, spiritual
development and religious awareness. He has been featured on
numerous media outlets including BBC, NPR, CNN, the New York
Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, BET and GEO TV.
Last week on Arab Voices, we aired Part 1, and it
included the remarks of several CAIR-Houston Board Members,
and the remarks of two awardees: Cesar Espinosa, Executive
Director of FIEL Houston, who received CAIR-Houston’s
Political Activism Award for his dedication and work in
fighting for justice and protection for immigrant
communities, and Mustafaa Carroll, former Executive Director
of CAIR-Houston, who received CAIR-Houston’s Ester L. King
Bridge Builder Award for his lifelong dedication and work in
activism and promoting justice. That program, Part 1, is
already archived on our website
www.ArabVoices.net, and you can always listen to it
online. |
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Date: |
April 8, 2020  |
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Topic: |
CAIR-Houston's Annual
Gala:
"Defend. Educate. Empower." Part 1 of 2
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations, Houston
Chapter, held its 18th Annual Gala on December 8, 2019, in Houston, under the theme "Defend.
Educate. Empower." More than 600 people including several local community members, faith
leaders, and elected officials attended the event that also
featured an awards ceremony recognizing several individuals.
It was a celebration and review of CAIR-Houston's
achievements and work in the past 18 years, and plans for
the coming year.
There were many remarks delivered at the event, and today we
will air Part 1 of 2, which will include the remarks of
Rawan Harirah
with CAIR-Houston Board of Directors,
Yusuf Shere,
CAIR-Houston Board of Directors President,
Judge Rabeea
Collier, first
elected Muslim State Court Judge in Harris County, Texas,
Lubabah Abdullah,
Executive Director of CAIR-Houston, and
John Floyd,
Esq., with CAIR-Houston Board of Directors. We will also
listen to the remarks of two awardees:
Cesar Espinosa,
Executive Director of FIEL Houston, who received CAIR-Houston’s
Political Activism Award for his dedication and work in
fighting for justice and protection for immigrant
communities, and
Mustafaa Carroll,
former Executive Director of CAIR-Houston, who received CAIR-Houston’s
Ester L. King Bridge Builder Award for his lifelong
dedication and work in activism and promoting justice.
Next week, we plan to air Part 2, and it will include the
remarks of
Bahia Amawi,
recipient of CAIR-Houston’s Courage & Justice Award. Amawi
is a Palestinian-American speech pathologist who filed a
federal lawsuit against Pflugerville Independent School
District and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for violating
her First Amendment right of free speech and challenging
Texas Anti-BDS Act, H.B. 89., after she lost her job because
she refused to sign a “No Boycott of Israel” clause. Bahia
won her case on April 25, 2019, when a federal judge ruled
that Texas law banning state contractors from boycotting
Israel violates the First Amendment.
We will also listen next week to the keynote speaker,
Imam Khalid
Latif, University
Chaplain for New York University and Executive Director of
the Islamic Center at NYU. |
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Date: |
April 1, 2020  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
“Gaza physicians “brace for impact”: How can healthcare
workers prepare for COVID-19 pandemic under siege?”
The Electronic Intifada
released a new podcast last week titled “Gaza physicians
“brace for impact”: How can healthcare workers prepare for
COVID-19 pandemic under siege?”. At the time of the release
of the podcast, there were 2 positive cases of COVID-19 in
the besieged Gaza Strip (one of the most densely populated
area on planet earth), but as of March 31, 2020, and
according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, there are
now 10 positive cases of COVID-19 in the Gaza Strip.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air “Gaza physicians “brace
for impact”" podcast by the Electronic Intifada.
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2nd
Segment:
"Corona Radiata": A
New
Poem by Dr. Fady Joudah
Dr.
Fady Joudah, Palestinian American physician, poet, and
translator, who won an award from the United Kingdom for
translating a collection of Mahmoud Darwish's poems into a
compilation called The Butterfly's Burden, and was
also winner of Yale Series of Younger Poets
competition, who lives and works in Houston, released a new
poem on the coronavirus pandemic titled “Corona Radiata”.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Dr. Joudah's “Corona
Radiata” poem.
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3rd
Segment:
In Memoriam: Arab Voices Interview with Dr.
Daoud Khairallah
Dr.
Daoud Khairallah, who was an attorney and professor of
international law at Georgetown University and the School of
Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University,
passed away on March 22, 2020, in Fairfax, Virginia. In
2012, we interviewed Dr. Khairallah live on Arab Voices
where we talked about the foreign intervention by the U.S.
and other countries in the Arab uprisings in the Middle
East.
Today on Arab Voices, we will re-air the interview we
conducted with Dr. Khairallah in 2012. |
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Date: |
March 25, 2020
(previously aired program) |
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Topic: |
"Iraq Afterwards: Epistemic Violence and Poetic (In)Justice"
by Dr. Sinan Antoon
The
Center for Arab Studies and the Arab-American Educational
Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of
Houston held the inaugural lecture of the Michael and Hoda
Kardoush Lecture Series on November 20, 2019, at the
University of Houston. The speaker was Dr. Sinan Antoon and
the topic was "Iraq Afterwards: Epistemic Violence and
Poetic (In)Justice."
Today on Arab Voices, we will air that lecture in its
entirety.
Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi-born poet, novelist, scholar, and
translator. He studied at Baghdad, Georgetown, and Harvard.
He has published two collections of poetry and four novels.
His most recent work is The Book of Collateral Damage (Yale
University Press, 2019). His literary works have been
translated to fourteen languages. His translations include
In the Presence of Absence by Mahmoud Darwish, which won the
American Literary Translators Association Prize. Antoon’s
translation of his own novel, The Corpse Washer, won the
2014 Saif Ghobash Prize for Literary Translation. His
scholarly works include The Poetics of the Obscene: Ibn al-Hajjaj
and Sukhf (Palgrave, 2014) and articles on the poetry of
Mahmoud, Darwish, Sargon Boulus, and Saadi Youssef. His op-eds
have appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times and many
pan-Arab newspapers and journals. In 2003 Antoon returned to
his native Baghdad to co-produce About Baghdad, a
documentary about the lives of Iraqis under occupation. He
is co-founder and co-editor of Jadaliyya and associate
professor at New York University. |
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Date: |
March 18, 2020
(previously aired program) |
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Topic: |
Law and Revolution in the Arab Spring
The
Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab
History at the University of Houston and The Arab-American
Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies at Rice
University, held an event at the University of Houston on
November 13, 2018 that featured
Dr. Nimer
Sultany,
Senior Lecturer in Public Law at SOAS, University of London,
and winner of the 2018 International Society of Public Law
Book Prize and the 2018 Society of Legal Scholars' Peter
Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship. Dr. Sultany
talked about his recent book Law and Revolution:
Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring.
This award winning book offers a critical re-examination of
political, legal, and constitutional theory in light of the
Arab Spring.
Dr. Sultany was introduced by Dr. Ussama Makdisi,
Professor of History and the first holder of the
Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies
at Rice University, and his talk was followed by commentary
from Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Associate Professor
and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern
Arab History at the University of Houston.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air the remarks delivered at
that event. |
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Date: |
March 11, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Houston Palestinian
Festival
A
live conversation with
Dr. Waleed Faris,
President of the
Palestinian American Cultural Center (PACC), organizer of the
10th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival, and
Mazin Alkhadraa,
who serves on the PACC Board of Directors and the Festival
Team.
We will speak with them about the
10th Annual
Houston Palestinian Festival (POSTPONED
to a future date) and the Palestinian American
Cultural Center organization and its activities.
The Palestinian Festival was originally scheduled to be held
on
Saturday-Sunday, March 21-22, 2020, at The
Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park, in
Houston, but a decision was made on March 11, 2020 to
postpone it to a future date (read
official statement).
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
We
will speak live with Dr. Rashid Khalidi about his new book
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler
Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, the U.S.
foreign policy towards occupied Palestine, the so called
“Deal of the Century” announced by President Trump in
January 2020, Israeli colonies on Palestinian land, the BDS
movement, efforts to suppress Palestinian voices and
supporters on college campuses in the US, and more.
Dr. Rashid Khalidi
is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at
Columbia University in New York, and editor of
the Journal
of Palestine Studies. He served as
president of the
Middle East Studies Association, and was an advisor
to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington
Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 to June
1993. He is author of: Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S.
has Undermined Peace in the Middle East
(2013); Sowing Crisis: American Dominance and the Cold
War in the Middle East (2009); The Iron Cage: The
Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (2006);
Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's
Perilous Path in the Middle East (2004); Palestinian
Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness
(1996); Under Siege: PLO Decision-Making During the 1982
War (1986); British Policy Towards Syria and
Palestine, 1906-1914 (1980); and co-editor of
Palestine and the Gulf (1982), The Origins of Arab
Nationalism (1991), and The Other Jerusalem:
Rethinking the History of the Sacred City (2020). His most recent book is titled
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler
Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017
(2020). |
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Date: |
March 4, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of
the Modern Arab World" by Dr. Ussama Makdisi
Rice
University's Baker Institute for Public Policy held a
special event on March 2, 2020, where Dr. Ussama Makdisi,
the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab
Studies at Rice University, discussed his most recent book "Age
of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the
Modern Arab World", which provides a fuller
understanding of the contemporary Middle East. The event was
sponsored by the Baker Institute Center for the Middle East.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air Dr. Makdisi’s remarks
delivered at the event.
Observers
of the Middle East are often quick to speak of the sectarian
tensions that have beset the region. However, Ussama Makdisi,
Ph.D., the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of
Arab Studies at Rice University, stresses the need to view
these issues within a broader historical context. Focusing
particularly on Lebanon under the rule of the Ottoman
Empire, Makdisi dispels assumptions about why and how
sectarian sentiments arose in the Middle East, detailing
often overlooked elements of coexistence that have shaped
the modern Arab world.
Ussama Makdisi, Ph.D., is a professor of history and the
first holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation
Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University. Currently, he is a
visiting professor in the Department of History at the
University of California, Berkeley. He has published widely
on Ottoman and Arab history as well as on U.S.-Arab
relations and U.S. missionary work in the Middle East.
Makdisi is the author of, most recently, “Age of
Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the
Modern Arab World” (University of California Press, 2019)
and “Faith Misplaced: The Broken Promise of U.S.-Arab
Relations, 1820-2001” (Public Affairs, 2010). Makdisi
received the Berlin Prize from the American Academy in
Berlin in spring 2018. In 2012-2013 he was an invited
resident fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
(Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin). In April 2009, the
Carnegie Corporation named Makdisi a 2009 Carnegie Scholar
as part of its effort to promote original scholarship
regarding Muslim societies and communities, both in the U.S.
and abroad. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Princeton
University. |
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February 26, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"Anti-Blackness and
The Palestinian Struggle" by Dr. Melina Abdullah and Dr.
Gerald Horne
Several
student organizations at the University of Houston organized
a discussion about the intersections of anti-blackness and
the Palestinian struggle. The event centered on systemic
injustices both communities face and how University of
Houston students can unite against these forms of
oppression.
The event was sponsored by the UH History
Department.
Today on Arab Voices
(during Black History Month),
we will listen to the remarks delivered at
the event on the way blacks were treated in the U.S., the
struggle for black people and being slaves, Black Lives
Matter movement, Police abuse, killing of black people, the
struggles for justice, the importance of understanding what
is happening to blacks in the U.S. and how that parallels to
what is happening to the Palestinian people, how the
struggle for black freedom in the U.S. is intrinsically tied
to the struggle of oppressed people around the globe,
especially the Palestinian people, how freedom is a constant
struggle, U.S. foreign policy, BDS movement, settler
colonialism, and much more.
Speakers:
Dr.
Melina Abdullah is
Professor and Chair of Pan-African Studies at California
State University, Los Angeles. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A.
from the University of Southern California in Political
Science and her B.A. from Howard University in African
American Studies. She was appointed to the Los Angeles
County Human Relations Commission in 2014 and is a
recognized expert on race, gender, class, and social
movements. Abdullah is the author of numerous articles and
book chapters, with subjects ranging from political
coalition building to womanist mothering. Most notably, she
has appeared on the featured film 13th. Melina is the
recipient of many awards, most recently the 2016 Racial
Justice Award presented by the YWCA.
Dr. Gerald Horne holds
the Moores Professorship of History and African American
Studies. His research has addressed issues of racism in a
variety of relations involving labor, politics, civil
rights, international relations and war. He has also written
extensively about the film industry. Dr. Horne received his
Ph.D. in history from Columbia University and his J.D. from
the University of California, Berkeley and his B.A. from
Princeton University. Dr. Horne's undergraduate and graduate
courses include the Civil Rights Movement, U.S. History
through Film, Diplomatic History, Labor History, and 20th
Century African American History. Dr. Horne is the author of
more than thirty books and one hundred scholarly articles
and reviews. |
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February 19, 2020  |
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Topic: |
"The Flowers of Arabic Literature in America" by
Dr. Edmund Ghareeb
The
Palestine Center in Washington, D.C., held a book talk
event titled "The Flowers of Arabic Literature in America"
on November 13, 2019. The guest speaker was Dr. Edmund
Ghareeb, Collector and Scholar. In this talk, Dr. Ghareeb
discusses the little known history of Arabic language books
published in the United States, including books by early
Arab-American women writers and known luminaries like Khalil
Gibran Khalil. He shares personal stories of his father’s
encounters with Khalil Gibran Khalil, as his translator,
with rare hand signed first editions. Dr. Ghareeb showcased
such books as a volume on the sayings of Benjamin Franklin;
a compendium of knowledge for Syrian Americans, including
questions on the US citizenship test; books with original
artwork by Gibran and many more surprises.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Dr. Edmund Ghareeb's
talk on "The Flowers of Arabic Literature in America". |
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Date: |
February 12, 2020  |
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Topic: |
Abby Martin
Files Lawsuit against Georgia's Unconstitutional "anti-BDS"
Law
Abby
Martin, Director
and Creator of
The
Empire Files, journalist, filmmaker, and former teleSUR presenter,
filed a federal free speech
lawsuit against Georgia's
unconstitutional "anti-BDS" law on February 10, 2020. The
lawsuit was filed on her behalf by the Georgia chapter of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia),
CAIR Legal Defense Fund and the Partnership for Civil
Justice Fund.
A few weeks ago, Abby Martin was blocked from delivering a
keynote speech at Georgia Southern University for refusing
to "sign a contractual pledge to not boycott Israel" to
comply with the anti-Boycott, Divest and Sanctions state
law.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of the remarks delivered at a press conference
held on February 10, 2020, after the
lawsuit was filed,
including the remarks of
Abby
Martin, journalist,
filmmaker and host of The Empire Files,
Edward Ahmed Mitchell,
Executive Director of CAIR-Georgia and co-counsel to Abby
Martin, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard
with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and co-counsel
to Abby Martin, and Gadeir Abbas,
Senior Litigation Attorney at CAIR and co-counsel to Abby
Martin.
Abby Martin was live on Arab Voices on January 29, 2020,
discussing her new documentary film “Gaza
Fights for Freedom”, and more. |
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Date: |
February 5, 2020  |
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Topic: |
Houston Protest Against Trump's
"Deal of the Century"
Hundreds
of people protested on February 1, 2020, the so called "Deal
of The Century" announced last week by President Trump, and
voiced their opposition to it. The event was organized by
the Palestinian Youth Movement, Students for Justice in
Palestine at the University of Houston, the Palestinian
American Cultural Center, and the Palestinian American
Council.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to statements and
remarks from 15 participants at the protest.
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Winter Fund Drive |
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Date: |
January 29, 2020  |
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Guest/
Topic: |
Abby Martin
Director
and Creator of
The
Empire Files. She is a journalist, filmmaker, and former
teleSUR presenter. Her new film is “Gaza
Fights for Freedom”, a powerful must-see film
documentary (directed, written and narrated by Abby Martin).
Abby is an outspoken critic of Israel’s apartheid government
and anti-Palestinian policies. A few weeks ago, she was
blocked from delivering a keynote speech at Georgia Southern
University for refusing to "sign a contractual pledge to not
boycott Israel" to comply with the anti-Boycott, Divest and
Sanctions state law.
We will speak live with Abby Martin about her new film “Gaza
Fights for Freedom”, and also get her reaction to the
Israeli Apartheid Plan, announced on Tuesday by President
Trump.
IMPORTANT:
Support for Arab Voices
Because KPFT is
currently in Winter Fund Drive, Arab Voices is offering the
new film documentary "Gaza Fights For Freedom" (DVD format)
as a "Thank-You Gift" for those who pledge $150. Please
consider a contribution to keep Arab Voices on KPFT. You can
call during the show on Wednesday between 6 and 7 pm central
time and pledge your support (713-526-5738), or send e-mail
to
ArabVoices@hotmail.com with your name and the amount you
want to pledge. Thank you.
Film Screening:
"Gaza Fights For Freedom" film will be
screened in Houston today, Wednesday, January 29 at 7
p.m. at the Dominican Center for Spirituality, 6501 Almeda
Rd., Houston, TX 77021.
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Winter Fund Drive |
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Date: |
January 22, 2020  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Ruth Nasrullah
We
will speak live with Ruth Nasrullah, Communications Director
for Houston Women March On, about the Houston Women's
March.
This year, the march will be held on Saturday, January 25,
2020. More details about the march is at
www.houstonwomensmarch.org.
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2nd
Segment:
Nader Alghoul
Freelance
journalist, photographer, news contributor, columnist,
political analyst and commentator with 20+ years in network,
cable and satellite television production, including
director, producer and translation & interpretation
(English-Arabic) working high-profile news, general
interest, breaking and feature stories globally. He has
worked with and contributed to numerous media outlets over
the years including Aljazeera English, BBC, France 3, NBC
News, SIS, and RAMATTAN News Agency.
We will speak live with Nader about a recent “Jeopardy!”
episode that caused outrage in which a contestant was told
she was wrong for identifying Jesus's birthplace, the Church
of Nativity in Bethlehem, as Palestine, and that the correct
answer was Israel!
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3rd
Segment:
Phyllis Bennis DN! Remarks on Democratic Debate &
U.S. Wars in the Middle East
We
will air a portion of an interview Democracy Now!
conducted last week with Phyllis Bennis with her reaction to
the Democratic Debate and U.S. Wars in the Middle East.
Phyllis Bennis is a fellow at the Institute for Policy
Studies who has appeared live on Arab Voices before. She
has written a number of books, including "Understanding the
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict", "Ending the Iraq War: A
Primer", "Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer",
"Before & After: US Foreign Policy and the War on Terror",
and "Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror: A
Primer". |
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Date: |
January 15, 2020 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
January 15, 2020, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of John Gardner.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, January 22, 2020. |
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Date: |
January 8, 2020  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Dr. Assal Rad
Research
Fellow at the
National
Iranian American Council (NIAC), a nonpartisan,
nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the voice
of Iranian Americans and promoting greater understanding
between the American and Iranian people. Dr. Rad graduated
with a PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of
California, Irvine. Her PhD research focused on Modern Iran,
with an emphasis on national identity formation and identity
in post-revolutionary Iran. She works with the policy team
on research and writing related to Iran policy issues and
U.S.-Iran relations, and also works to organize Iranian
Americans around issues that affect the community.
We will speak live with Dr. Assal Rad about the U.S.
assassination of Iranian Commander Qassem Soleimani in
Iraq, Iran’s decision to reduce compliance with nuclear
deal, the Iranian missile attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq,
detentions of Iranian Americans at U.S. ports of entry, and
more.
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2nd
Segment:
David Swanson
Executive
Director of
WorldBeyondWar.org, a global nonviolent movement to end
war and establish a just and sustainable peace, and campaign
coordinator for
RootsAction.org. He is an author, activist, journalist,
and radio host. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie
and When the World Outlawed War. He blogs at
DavidSwanson.org and
WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. He
is a 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.
Swanson was awarded the 2018 Peace Prize by the U.S. Peace
Memorial Foundation. He speaks frequently on the topic of
war and peace, and engages in all kinds of nonviolent
activism. Swanson recently drafted a resolution urging
Congress to move money from the military to human and
environmental needs, rather than the reverse. Versions of
the resolution were passed by several cities and by the U.S.
Conference of Mayors.
We will speak live with
David Swanson about the increased tension and attacks
between the U.S. and Iran, U.S. military bases/forces in
Iraq and other countries in the Middle East and beyond, how
to avert another war in the Middle East, and more. |
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Date: |
January 1, 2020  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria & Yemen: A Look Back at 2019
Today
on Arab Voices, we will look back at the year 2019, and
particularly the situations in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine,
Syria and Yemen. We will air portions of interviews we
conducted live on Arab Voices during 2019 with the following
guests:
Iraq: Interview with
Raed Jarrar,
Iraqi-American political activist and writer
Lebanon: Interview
with
Maya Mikdashi,
Assistant Professor at the Department of Women’s and Gender
Studies and a lecturer in the program in Middle East Studies
at Rutgers University, and Co-Founder and Co-Editor of
Jadaliyya
Palestine: Interview
with
Mohamed Mohamed,
Executive Director of The Jerusalem Fund and The Palestine
Center
Syria: Interview with
Daniel McAdams,
Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and
Prosperity
Yemen: Interview with
Jehan Hakim, Chair of
the Yemeni Alliance Committee |
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Date: |
December 25, 2019  |
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Topic/
Guest: |
Archbishop Atallah Hanna's Houston Remarks
Archbishop
Atallah Hanna, a prominent Palestinian Christian figure, has
been hospitalized for inhaling poisonous gas from gas
canisters thrown into his church in Jerusalem last week. The
Archbishop suffered from temporary paralysis, but is now in
stable condition in a hospital in Amman, Jordan. In a press
conference held Monday, the Archbishop held Israel
responsible for the attack against him and accused Israel of
trying to silence his voice.
Atallah Hanna is the Archbishop of Sabastia from the Greek
Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In 2008, he refused to
meet with President George W. Bush at the Church of Nativity
during his visit to Bethlehem. In 2002, he was arrested by
Israel on charges of "incitement", the first time a
Christian religious leader was arrested for his activism
against the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
In 2008, Archbishop Atallah Hanna visited Houston, Texas,
and spoke at the 9th National Convention of Birzeit Society.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air some of his Houston
remarks (in Arabic, followed by translation of the main
points in English) where he talked about occupied Palestine
(the birth place of Jesus Christ), the suffering of
Palestinians under the Israeli occupation, Palestinian
Christians, roles Arabs and Palestinians should play in the
U.S., Christian Zionism, one-state vs. two-states solution,
the U.S. media, and much more.
We will also listen to his recent message to all Christians
around the world regarding occupied Palestine, the
birthplace of Christ and where Christianity originated and
spread its message throughout the world. |
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Date: |
December 18, 2019  |
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Topic/
Guest: |
"Iraq Afterwards: Epistemic Violence and Poetic (In)Justice"
by Dr. Sinan Antoon
The
Center for Arab Studies and the Arab-American Educational
Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of
Houston held the inaugural lecture of the Michael and Hoda
Kardoush Lecture Series on November 20, 2019, at the
University of Houston. The speaker was Dr. Sinan Antoon and
the topic was "Iraq Afterwards: Epistemic Violence and
Poetic (In)Justice."
Today on Arab Voices, we will air that lecture in its
entirety.
Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi-born poet, novelist, scholar, and
translator. He studied at Baghdad, Georgetown, and Harvard.
He has published two collections of poetry and four novels.
His most recent work is The Book of Collateral Damage (Yale
University Press, 2019). His literary works have been
translated to fourteen languages. His translations include
In the Presence of Absence by Mahmoud Darwish, which won the
American Literary Translators Association Prize. Antoon’s
translation of his own novel, The Corpse Washer, won the
2014 Saif Ghobash Prize for Literary Translation. His
scholarly works include The Poetics of the Obscene: Ibn al-Hajjaj
and Sukhf (Palgrave, 2014) and articles on the poetry of
Mahmoud, Darwish, Sargon Boulus, and Saadi Youssef. His op-eds
have appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times and many
pan-Arab newspapers and journals. In 2003 Antoon returned to
his native Baghdad to co-produce About Baghdad, a
documentary about the lives of Iraqis under occupation. He
is co-founder and co-editor of Jadaliyya and associate
professor at New York University. |
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Date: |
December 11, 2019 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
December 11, 2019, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of Travis Runnels.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, December 18, 2019. |
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Date: |
December 4, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Remarks of Human Rights Watch
Omar Shakir and Kenneth Roth after Israel's Expulsion of
Shakir
We will listen today to
the remarks of Omar Shakir,
Israel and Palestine Director at
Human Rights
Watch, and Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human
Rights Watch, one of the world's leading international human
rights organizations, which operates in more than 90
countries. They spoke at a press conference last week, after Israel
expelled Omar Shakir and revoked his visa.
Human Rights Watch vowed to keep documenting
abuses despite the Israeli government’s expulsion.
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2nd
Segment:
Live
discussion with
Deya' Leonard Dresner & Yazan Meqbil about
LE•O and the Educational Opportunities for
under-privileged Palestinian Youth.
Deya' Leonard Dresner
Founder
and Executive Director of LE•O,
Leonard Education Organization. She has several years of
experience managing key elements of international programs
focused on educational opportunities for under-privileged
Palestinian youth. She served as Director of Donor Relations
for AMIDEAST and as the Director of Development and Student
Relations for The Hope Fund. Her strong relationship,
program and team-building skills include internship
programs, mentoring partners for students, graduate school
and job placement support, and most recently Friends of LE•O
support groups in the students’ countries of residence. Deya’
has worked closely with over 30 colleges and universities to
create sustainable programs to ensure a student’s success in
future leadership roles and fulfill their true potential.
Yazan Meqbil
Molecular
Biologist/Biochemist with a B.A. in Molecular
Biology/Biochemistry from Goshen College in Goshen, IN. He
attended Goshen College as a LE.O scholar. Throughout his
time at Goshen, Mqebil developed an interest in drug
discovery which influenced his pursuit of a Ph.D. in
Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology with the
focus on Neuropharmacology. Meqbil grew up in the town of
Beit Ommar in the West Bank, occupied Palestine, where he
graduated from high school. In Beit Ommar, Meqbil started
the Local Committee for Youth-Beit Ommar, an effort aimed to
create the space and resources for students aged 10-15 for
extracurricular and educational activities. Meqbil hopes to
use his scientific expertise to transform scientific and
pharmaceutical research in Palestine. As of December 2019,
Meqbil is a graduate student at Purdue University in the
Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Ph.D program. |
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Date: |
November 27, 2019  |
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Topic/
Guest: |
“A Lebanese October Revolution: Reclaiming Public Spaces,
Rejecting Patriarchy, and Demanding Social Justice” by Dr.
Sana Tannoury-Karam
The
Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab
History at the University of Houston hosted Dr. Sana
Tannoury-Karam on November 12, 2019, for a talk titled “A
Lebanese October Revolution: Reclaiming Public Spaces,
Rejecting Patriarchy, and Demanding Social Justice”.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air that lecture in its
entirety.
Dr. Sana Tannoury-Karam is a historian of the modern Middle
East, writing on the intellectual and social history of the
Left in the Levant during the Mandate period. She is an
Early Career Fellow at the Arab Council for the Social
Sciences and a lecturer in the Humanities Department at the
Lebanese American University. Most recently, she had
completed a post-doctoral fellowship in History at Rice
University. She is currently working on her book Red Flags
in the Streets of Beirut: An Intellectual and Cultural
History of the Lebanese Left, 1920-1948. Dr. Tannoury-Karam,
currently residing in Lebanon, and is an activist in the
ongoing Lebanese uprising. She is a member of the Coalition
of Independent University Professors and an organizing
member of the Coalition of Independent Professionals,
organizations that have been formed during the October
revolution. |
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Date: |
November 20, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Mohamed Mohamed
Executive
Director of
The Jerusalem Fund and
The Palestine Center. He is a
graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, where he
majored in Political Science and completed his senior thesis
on statelessness and its practical implications on
Palestinians living in the refugee camps of Lebanon. He also
earned an M.A. in International Relations and an M.S. in
International Political Economy from the University of Texas
at Dallas. He has written articles about Palestine issues
that have been featured on Mondoweiss, Electronic Intifada,
and others. Prior to joining The Jerusalem Fund, Mohamed
campaigned and worked for a Palestinian-American city
councilman and mayoral candidate in the city of Richardson,
Texas.
We will speak live with Mohamed about the ongoing Israeli
occupation and recent escalation of attacks on Gaza, and the
US announcement that Israeli settlements are no longer
considered a violation of international law.
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2nd
Segment:
Raed Jarrar
Iraqi-American
political activist and blogger. He is the Executive Director
for MENA at the Delahunt Group. Since his immigration to the U.S. in 2005,
he has worked on political and cultural issues pertaining to
U.S. engagement in the Arab and Muslim worlds. He is widely
recognized as an expert on political, social, and economic
developments in the Middle East. He has testified in
numerous Congressional hearings and briefings, and he is
also a frequent guest on national and international media
outlets in both Arabic and English.
We will speak live with Raed Jarrar about the ongoing
protests and situation in Iraq, where more than 330 Iraqis
were killed and more than 15,000 were wounded over the past
three months. |
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Date: |
November 13, 2019 |
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Due to technical issues at KPFT Studios, we
were unable to broadcast as normal, and ended up re-airing
the October 23, 2019 program.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. |
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Date: |
November 6, 2019 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
November 6, 2019, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of Justen Hall.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, November 13, 2019. |
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Date: |
October 30, 2019  |
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Topic: |
ACC's Annual Unity & Friendship Gala
The
Arab American Cultural and Community Center (ACC) in Houston
held its 24th Annual Unity and Friendship Gala on October 19,
2019, and it
highlighted Iraq, The Dawn of Civilization. The
Gala Chairs were Mrs. Luna Madi and Dr. Ghaidaa Makki. The
Mistress of Ceremonies was Sally Mamdooh, award-winning
reporter at KPRC-TV.
The ACC honorees were Dr. Issam Raad (2019 ACC Lifetime
Achievement Award), Mrs. Wafa Abdin (2019 ACC Outstanding Community Service Award),
and The Khudairi Group (2019 ACC Business Service Award).
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of the remarks
delivered at the Gala, including the remarks of
Dr.
Mahmoud Rabie,
ACC President,
Mrs. Luna Madi
& Dr.
Ghaidaa Makki, Gala
Chairs,
Dr. Ali Al Ameri,
President of the Iraqi American Society in Houston, with a
tribute to Iraq,
Dr. Jamal
Zahalka, former
member of the Knesset (introduced by Alaa Aburahmeh),
Dr. Issam Raad
(introduced by Dr. Kamal Khalil),
Mrs. Wafa Abdin
(introduced by Saleh Al-Mohtaseb), and
Mr. Aziz
Khudairi (introduced
be Subhi Khudairi). |
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Date: |
October 23, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Ruth Ann Skaff
Ruth
Ann Skaff serves on the organizing committee for the
National Arab
Orchestra’s first ever Houston performance that will be
held in Houston on November 16, 2019. She also serves on the
board of
The Arab-American Educational Foundation. Previously,
Ruth Ann has worked for a number of Arab American
organizations including the ADC, AAI, ALSAC-St Jude
Children’s Research Hospital and the Arab American National
Museum.
Ruth Ann grew up in Houston. Her grandparents immigrated to
the United States in the 1880s from the Ottoman province of
Greater Syria. Their ancestral villages are in Lebanon. She
grew up in the heart of the Arab American community and
developed a great love and appreciation for her rich
cultural heritage.
We will speak with Ruth
Ann about the
National Arab Orchestra, and the
upcoming
performance in Houston featuring Abeer Nehme and the
Houston Youth Arabic Choir, sponsored by several Houston
Arab organizations.
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2nd
Segment:
Maya Mikdashi
Assistant
Professor at the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies
and a lecturer in the program in Middle East Studies at
Rutgers University. She is currently completing a book
manuscript that examines the war on terror, sexual
difference, secularism, and state power in the contemporary
Middle East from the vantage point of Lebanon. Maya received
her PhD from Columbia University's Department of
Anthropology. She is Co-Director of the award-winning
documentary film About Baghdad, and assistant
director of Arabs and Terrorism documentary series.
She is Co-Founder and Co-Editor of
Jadaliyya, an independent ezine produced by the Arab
Studies Institute. She has published widely in peer-reviewed
journals and edited volumes, in addition to online
platforms.
We will speak with Maya
about the unprecedented protests in Lebanon where millions
of all ages have been demonstrating across Lebanon for the
past week and from across all religious and political
groups. They are protesting against government corruption,
lack of services, tax hikes, dire economic conditions,
depressing electricity supply, austerity, and much more. |
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October 16, 2019  |
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Arab Voices Needs Your Support
KPFT continues its
Fall Fund Drive, and Arab Voices
Needs Your Support. We are offering the following "Thank-You Gift" during this drive
at the $100 pledge level:
"The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public
Relations War in The United States" DVD
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to portions of an interview we
conducted previously with
Professor Sut Jhally, executive producer of
the film and also listen to portions of this film
documentary/DVD.
About the Film: Israel's ongoing military occupation of
Palestinian territory
and its repeated invasions of the Gaza strip have triggered
a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually
everywhere in the world — except the United States. "The
Occupation of the American Mind" takes an eye-opening look
at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public
relations efforts within the U.S. Narrated by Roger Waters
and featuring leading observers of the Israeli–Palestinian
conflict, the film explores how the Israeli government, the
U.S. government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined
forces, often with very different motives, to shape American
media coverage of the conflict in Israel's favor. The
Occupation of the American Mind provides a sweeping analysis
of Israel's decades-long battle for the hearts, minds, and
tax dollars of the American people — a battle that has only
intensified over the past few years in the face of widening
international condemnation of Israel's increasingly
right-wing policies.
Please call 713-526-5738 between 6 pm and 7 pm central time
on Wednesday and support your commercial-free community radio
station. You can also send email to
info@ArabVoices.net
with your name and the amount you'd like to pledge.
Thank you.
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Fall Fund Drive |
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Date: |
October 9, 2019  |
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Topic: |
Re-Airing Portions of Previous Interviews with Melvin
Goodman
Melvin
Goodman is Director
of the National Security Project at the Center for
International Policy in Washington, DC, and a
professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He was
an analyst at the CIA for 24 years; a former analyst at the
State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research; and
author of several books on international security, including
"National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism"
and "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the
CIA". His latest book is "Whistleblower at the CIA".
Goodman helped draft the report that described Israel’s
attack against Egypt on the morning of June 5, 1967.Last
year, he
published the piece
The Six Day War and Israeli Lies: What I Saw at the CIA.
Goodman has written numerous articles and op-eds over the
years, appeared on various media outlets, and has lectured
all over the country. He is also the national security
columnist for counterpunch.org.
Because KPFT is currently in Fall Fund Drive, Arab Voices is
offering the following books as a "Thank-You" Gift during
this drive:
- "National
Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism"
book by Melvin Goodman - $100
- "Whistleblower
at the CIA: An Insider’s Account of the Politics
of Intelligence" book by Melvin Goodman - $100
- Both Books by
Melvin Goodman - $150
Please consider a contribution to keep Arab Voices on KPFT.
You can call during the show on Wednesday between 6 and 7 pm
central time and pledge your support (713-526-5738), or send
e-mail to
ArabVoices@hotmail.com with your name and the amount you
want to pledge.
Thank you.
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Winter Fund Drive |
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Date: |
October 2, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Ellen Siegel
Jewish
American nurse, a longtime peace activist who has been a
strong voice for justice for Palestinians for decades. Ellen
serves on the advisory board of the American Near East
Refugee Aid (ANERA), and works closely with the National
Institution of Social Care and Vocational training known as
Beit Atfal Assumoud (Lebanese NGO). Ellen Siegel was working
in Gaza Hospital inside Sabra refugee camp in Lebanon during
the Israeli massacre in Sabra & Shatila in September 1982 and witnessed
the killing of thousands of Palestinian men, women, children
and elderly, and testified before the Israeli Kahan
Commission of Inquiry. Ellen returned to Lebanon each year
after the massacre to participate in the commemorations.
We will speak with Ellen
Siegel about the work she did in Lebanon as a nurse inside a
Palestinian refugee camp; her eyewitness account of the
Israeli massacre in Sabra & Shatila 37 years ago in Lebanon; the
situation inside Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and
more.
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Topic: |
2nd
Segment:
Jehan Hakim
Chair of the
Yemeni Alliance Committee, which advocates for ending
the US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen by raising
awareness and pushing legislation. Previously, she served as
the Community Advocate with Asian Americans Advancing
Justice-Asian Law Caucus to support communities through
educational programs, community organizing initiatives and
empowerment and advocacy, and also served with the American
Association of Yemeni Students and Professionals. Jehan is a
Yemeni American based in California.
We will speak with Jehan
Hakim about the crisis in Yemen as a result of the
U.S.-supported Saudi-led war on Yemen, the current situation
inside Yemen, efforts to stop the war, and what people can
do to help end U.S. support for this war. |
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Date: |
September 25, 2019 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
September 25, 2019, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of Robert Sparks.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, October 2, 2019. |
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Date: |
September 18, 2019  |
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Topic: |
PACC Gala with Keynote Speaker Saree Makdisi
The
Palestinian American Cultural Center (PACC), held its
10th Anniversary Gala on September 14, 2019, in Houston, to
celebrate its achievements and accomplishments over the
years, and in appreciation of the organization’s sponsors
and donors. The gala was held under the theme “Strengthening
the community through unity”. over the years. The Gala was
held under the theme “Strengthening the community through
unity”.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air the remarks delivered at
the Gala, including the keynote address on Palestine
delivered by Saree Makdisi, Professor
of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA, and author of
Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, who was
introduced by Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Associate
Professor and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in
Modern Arab History at the University of Houston. We will
also listen to the remarks of Tarek Abuata, Executive
Director of Friends of Sabeel North America, the recipient
of this year’s Abu-Obaida Community Service Award, and the
remarks of Abbas Yaacoubi,
PACC board member, past president and one of its founders,
Dr. Waleed Faris, PACC President, Muhammad Nabulsi,
PACC board member, and Kareem El-Sadi with PACC.
The Gala was an amazing event, with nearly 400 people in
attendance. The Gala chair was Muna Saqer, co-chair was Luna
Madi, and the Mistress of Ceremonies was Nuzha Petro. In addition to the remarkable speakers, the Gala
featured Palestinian folkloric performance by Alawdah Dabkeh
School members, live traditional Palestinian music played by
the talented brothers Muhammad and Hamzah Saadah, and an
amazing national anthem and Mawtini performance by Muna
Khalidi while Muhammad Saadah was playing the Oud. The gala
also featured silent auction, authentic centerpieces of
Palestinian clay water jars, a display of traditional
Palestinian embroidered dresses, and entertainment by Jabour
and Band.
One of the highlights of this year’s Gala, was the photo
gallery with incredible pictures and powerful Photo Essays
by Palestinian American established Photographer, Hanan Awad,
narrating stories about Palestine with a series of
photographs she took herself when she was in Palestine. Each
photo essay tells a story of how occupation destroys
identity and land. Hanan Awad is based in Edmond, Oklahoma,
and has held multiple photo exhibitions in the U.S., Dubai,
and Abu Dhabi. |
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Date: |
September 11, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
"How the VCHR is Preventing Israel Affinity Organizations
from Politicizing K-12 Textbooks"
by Kathy Drinkard
We
will air today the remarks of Kathy Drinkard on the
topic "How the
VCHR is
Preventing Israel Affinity Organizations from Politicizing
K-12 Textbooks". Kathy Drinkard is chair of the
Ministry for Middle East Peace and Justice at Grace
Presbyterian Church in Springfield, VA, and a retired
teacher and elementary school counselor. She’s long been
concerned about the suffering in the Palestinian
territories, and has been involved with her church on the
issue for more than a decade. She’s traveled to the region
four times, most recently Fall 2018, a trip she helped plan.
During her second trip, she spent 10 days in Nablus visiting
an Anglican congregation which is in partnership with her
church. Her third trip was to participate in the seminar
“Faith in the Face of Empire,” sponsored by Rev. Mitri Raheb
and Bright Stars of Bethlehem.
Drinkard delivered those remarks at
The Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference held on
March 22, 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
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2nd
Segment:
Sam Husseini
on the Iraq War Lies Exposed in the New Film "Official
Secrets"
Sam
Husseini is a senior
analyst and director of communications with the
Institute for
Public Accuracy. He has written widely on politics,
foreign affairs, public policy, media, and culture. His
writing is regularly published by Consortium News, CounterPunch, TruthDig and other outlets. He’s a
contributing writer with The Nation and has been published
in the Washington Post, USA Today and other large
circulation print outlets. He’s appeared on CNN, “Good
Morning America,” MSNBC and FNC as well as many independent
outlets. Prior to joining IPA, Husseini was media director
for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He
founded The Washington Stakeout and VotePact.org.
We will speak live with
Sam Husseini about the
Iraq war lies exposed in the new film "Official
Secrets" that opened nationally this week including
in Houston, and described by Sam Husseini as the "Tip
of Mammoth Iceberg".
"Official Secrets" is a remarkably accurate Hollywood
account of how British spy Katharine Gun (played by Keira
Knightley) attempted to stop the invasion of Iraq by
exposing a top secret
NSA document proving the U.S. and British governments
were spying on other UN members to bully and blackmail their
way to a UN authorization for war. |
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Date: |
September 4, 2019 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
September 4, 2019, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of Billy Crutsinger.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, September 11, 2019. |
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Date: |
August 28, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Dennis Johnson
Deputy
Regional Director of the
U.S. 2020
Census. We will speak live with Dennis about the
upcoming 2020 Census, its importance, who will be counted,
changes/what's new to the 2020 Census, important dates, 2020
Census jobs, and more.
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2nd
Segment:
Khaled
Elgindy
Nonresident senior fellow in the Center for Middle East
Policy at the Brookings Institution, and a founding board
member of the Egyptian American Rule of Law Association. He
previously served as an advisor to the Palestinian
leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations with
Israel from 2004 to 2009, and was a key participant in the
Annapolis negotiations held throughout 2008. He is author of
the newly released book "Blind Spot: America and the
Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump", and co-author of "The
Arab Awakening: America and the Transformation of the Middle
East". Prior to that, Elgindy spent nine years in various
political and policy-related positions in Washington, D.C.,
both
inside
and outside the federal government, including as a
professional staff member on the House International
Relations Committee in 2002 and as a policy analyst for the
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2000
to 2002. He served as the political action coordinator for
the Arab American Institute from 1998 to 2000 and as Middle
East program officer for the National Democratic Institute
for International Affairs from 1995 to 1997.
We will speak live with
Khaled Elgindy about his new book
"Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to
Trump". |
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Date: |
August 21, 2019 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
August 21, 2019, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of Larry Swearingen.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, August 28, 2019. |
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Date: |
August 14, 2019  |
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Topic: |
In Memoriam: Arab Voices Interview with Former Congressman
Paul Findley
Former
Congressman Paul Findley (R-IL), passed away on August 9,
2019, at the age of 98. He served in the United States
Congress for 22 years representing central Illinois.
Findley was an advocate for Palestinian rights for nearly
half a century, and one of the few who spoke against the
Israel lobby in the United States. He was targeted by the
Israel lobby and was pushed out of Congress in 1982. Paul
Findley was co-founder and chairman emeritus of the
Council for the National Interest, and was also a
founding director of
If
Americans Knew.
Mr. Findley is the author of the best-selling book
They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront
Israel’s Lobby. This was the first book to expose
the power of the Israel lobby throughout the United States:
in Congress, academia, and the press. He is also the author
of Deliberate Deceptions: Facing the Facts About the
U.S.-Israeli Relationship, and Silent No More:
Confronting America's False Images of Islam.
Arab Voices had interviewed Paul Findley live on the program
in April 2006 and talked about the Israel lobby in the U.S.,
the impact of the Israel lobby on the US foreign policy,
Zionist Christians, why fewer congresspeople speak out about
the Israel lobby, intimidation by the Israel lobby against
congresspeople, his book They Dare to Speak Out: People
and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, and more!
Today on Arab Voices, we will re-air the interview we
conducted with former Congressman Paul Findley.
Because KPFT is
currently in Summer Fund Drive, Arab Voices will be offering
Congressman Paul Findley's book They Dare to Speak
Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby
during the show today as a
Thank-You Gift for $100. |
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Date: |
August 7, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topic: |
Ahmad Awad and Astha Sharma Pokharel
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From Palestine
Legal |
Students at Fordham
University won a landmark legal victory this week when a
judge ruled that Fordham University violated its own rules
in prohibiting the formation of a Students for Justice in
Palestine (SJP) club. The Court annulled Fordham’s decision
to deny SJP club status, finding it arbitrary and
capricious.
We will speak live about that with Ahmad Awad, one of
the five students who filed the lawsuit in April 2017
against Fordham University, and Astha Sharma Pokharel,
one of the attorneys who worked on this case. Astha Sharma
Pokharel is a Bertha Justice Fellow at the Center for
Constitutional Rights, where she works on international
human rights, corporate accountability, Palestine
solidarity, and abusive immigration practices.
The students were represented by the
Center
for Constitutional Rights,
Palestine Legal, and cooperating counsel Alan Levine.
They have taken on that case and filed the lawsuit on behalf
of the five students. This lawsuit is the first major legal
win for campus Palestine activists in the US. |
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Date: |
July 31, 2019  |
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Guest: |
Josh Ruebner
Senior
Principal at
Progress Up Consulting. Josh has two decades of
experience as an analyst for Congressional Research Service
and as a policy director for the US Campaign for
Palestinian Rights, a national nonprofit working on
progressive foreign policy issues. In those roles, Josh
learned the ins-and-outs of Capitol Hill and how to best
communicate with Congress to create policy change. Josh has
written dozens of high-impact policy papers, has written
policy-related op-eds in publications such as The Hill, USA
Today, and The Los Angeles Times, and discussed policy
issues on TV channels such as C-SPAN, ABC, and NBC. Josh is
also the author of two acclaimed books on policy issues,
"Israel: Democracy or Apartheid State?" and "Shattered
Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace".
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Topic: |
We will speak live
with Josh Ruebner about the non-binding US House of
Representatives resolution (H.Res.246)
that passed by a vote of 398-17 on July 23, 2019, condemning
people for exercising their constitutional right to engage
in boycotts in support of Palestinian rights. We will talk
about BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement, and
H.Res.496, introduced on July 16, 2019, by Congresswoman
Ilhan Omar, affirming that all Americans have the right to
participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights
at home and abroad, as protected by the First Amendment to
the Constitution. We will also talk about the ongoing
Israeli occupation of Palestine, home demolitions in
Jerusalem, Israel’s racist policies, the Trump
administration’s stance towards Israel/Palestine, and more. |
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Date: |
July 24, 2019  |
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Topic: |
"The
Early History of the Arab-American Community" by Professor
Akram Khater
The
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and The
Arab-American Education Foundation Chair in Modern Arab
History at the University of Houston held the Nijad and Zeina Fares
Arab-American Educational Foundation Annual Distinguished
Lecture in Modern Arab Studies on February 19, 2019, at the
University of Houston. The lecture was titled
"The Early
History of the Arab-American Community", and the
speaker was Professor
Akram Khater.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen
to Professor Khater's lecture on "The
Early History of the Arab-American Community".
Akram Khater Ph.D. (UC Berkeley) is University Faculty
Scholar, Professor of History, Khayrallah Chair in Diaspora
Studies, and Director of the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese
Diaspora Studies at North Carolina State University. His
books include Inventing Home: Emigration, Gender and the
Making of a Lebanese Middle Class, 1861-1921; A History of
the Middle East: A Sourcebook for the History of the Middle
East and North Africa; and Embracing the Divine: Passion and
Politics in the Christian Middle East. He is the editor of
the International Journal of Middle East Studies, has
completed a 2012 PBS documentary on the history of the
Lebanese community in North Carolina, was the senior curator
for a museum exhibit on the same topic that opened on
February 21, 2014, and was also the curator of the traveling
exhibit, The Lebanese in America, which has toured six US
cities, and will continue to tour through 2019. |
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Date: |
July 17, 2019  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Congresswomen Remarks on President Trump's "Go Back" comment
We
will listen to the reaction/remarks of the four
congresswomen (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan
Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan) during a press conference they
held on July 15, 2019, reacting to President Trump's
targeting them in one of his latest racist and xenophobic
remarks, telling the congresswomen of color to “go back” to
the countries they came from!
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2nd
Segment:
“Saudi Arabia
and Jared Kushner: Armaments and Conflict in the Middle
East”
This is a segment produced by Building Bridges radio program
that airs on our sister station WBAI 99.5 FM in the New York
City metro area. The segment is titled ”Saudi Arabia and
Jared Kushner: Armaments and Conflict in the Middle East“,
with guest Mohamad Bazzi, journalism professor at New York
University, a former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday and
a former Council on Foreign Relations fellow. He is
currently writing a book on the proxy wars between Saudi
Arabia and Iran.
Mohamad Bazzi, recently wrote for The Nation that Trumps
public statements on Saudi killing in Yemen reflect "a
narrative that has been gaining traction for years among
U.S. officials and in sectors of the Western media: that the
Saudis and their allies in the Yemen war, especially the
United Arab Emirates, are killing civilians and destroying
infrastructure by mistake. But this is not true. The Saudi
coalition has targeted civilians and the country's
infrastructure by design since it intervened in Yemen's
civil war in March 2015. Its not that the Saudis and their
allies don't know how to use American-made weapons or need
help in choosing targets -- they're using them as intended.
And American officials have known this for years."
Bazzi has written extensively on the war in Yemen and the
Trump administration circumventing Congress on arms to Saudi
Arabia while civilians are being targeted -and recently
said: "the Trump administration stated it plans to
circumvent Congress to sell billions in new weapons to Saudi
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. U.S. officials have
known for years that the Saudi/UAE coalition deliberately
targets civilians in Yemen with U.S. weapons." |
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Date: |
July 10, 2019  |
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Topic: |
Special Report on "Christians United For Israel" Summit &
the Protests against it
We
will listen today to a special report produced by Mark
Bebawi, former producer and host of "The Monitor" on KPFT
Houston, 90.1 FM, on the "Christians United For Israel" (CUFI)
summit held July 7-8, 2019 in Washington, D.C., where over
100 faith leaders and community organizers protested the
summit. The group led direct actions, including sit-ins
outside the center while 21 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim
faith leaders staged disruptions of the opening plenary
session featuring CUFI founder John Hagee, Israel’s Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and U.S. Vice President Mike
Pence.
Tarek Abuata, executive director of Friends of Sabeel North
America (FOSNA), who was a guest live on Arab Voices last
week to talk about CUFI, was the first to stand up and
disrupt, shouting, “Zionism is racism,” and holding up a
banner that read, “Israel is an apartheid state.” Security
immediately handcuffed Abuata and carried him out of the
convention center. Abuata continued to shout, “People of
God, wake up! Protect the Palestinian people.”
During Vice President Mike Pence’s remarks, Christian and
Jewish faith leaders interrupted the U.S. vice president,
shouting, “Israel kills children. Jews and Christians say no
to Zionism,” and holding a banner that read, “Israel kills
civilians.” Security grabbed them and dragged them out of
the center. |
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Date: |
July 3, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Dr. Assal Rad
Research
Fellow at the
National
Iranian American Council (NIAC), a nonpartisan,
nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the voice
of Iranian Americans and promoting greater understanding
between the American and Iranian people. Dr. Rad graduated
with a PhD in Middle Eastern History from the University of
California, Irvine. Her PhD research focused on Modern Iran,
with an emphasis on national identity formation and identity
in post-revolutionary Iran. She works with the policy team
on research and writing related to Iran policy issues and
U.S.-Iran relations, and also works to organize Iranian
Americans around issues that affect the community.
We will speak live with Dr. Assal Rad about the tensions
between the U.S. and Iran, President Trump's Iran policy and
his threats to go to war against Iran, the new sanctions
imposed on Iran by the U.S., consequences of President
Trump’s abandonment of the Iran nuclear deal, and more.
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2nd
Segment:
Tarek Abuata
Executive
Director of
Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), a nonprofit
Christian ecumenical organization seeking justice and peace
in the Holy Land through nonviolent advocacy and education.
Tarek was born into a Palestinian Christian family in
Bethlehem, and moved to Texas during the first Palestinian
Intifada when he was 12. He was the executive director of
Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace and of Love Thy
Neighbor. Additionally, he worked with Christian Peacemaker
Teams, the United Palestine Appeal, and the Negotiations
Support Unit of the Palestinian Authority, researching legal
and policy issues. Abuata holds a J.D. from the University
of Texas Law School.
We will speak live with Tarek Abuata about the upcoming
Christians United For Israel (CUFI) summit, scheduled to take
place July 7-8 in Washington, D.C., and the campaign (Rise
Against Racism: Counter CUFI!) launched to counter CUFI
summit and challenge Christian Zionism and express
solidarity for the Palestinian people by several
organizations, headed by Friends of Sabeel North America,
Jewish Voice for Peace, American Muslims for Palestine, and
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and endorsed by more
than 30 organizations.
More about CUFI from FOSNA: Christians United for Israel has
quietly become the largest organization in the United States
driving support for Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian
people. With over five million members, CUFI uses its
political leverage to ensure ongoing U.S. support for
Israel’s colonization and military occupation of Palestine,
including imprisoning Palestinian children; bombing homes,
schools, and hospitals in Gaza; massacring peaceful
protestors; and confiscating Palestinian land. By its own
admission, CUFI “led the charge to have the U.S. recognize
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” and it continues to push for
unconstitutional anti-BDS legislation and illegal settlement
expansion. CUFI is a Christian Zionist organization: Its
ideology and politics are deeply entrenched in white
nationalism, anti-Muslim racism, anti-Semitism, and other
systems of oppression. In spite of its strong political
influence on the Hill, CUFI has operated largely under the
radar and received little attention in comparison with
groups like AIPAC. |
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Date: |
June 26, 2019  |
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Topic/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi's Response
We
will listen to Dr. Hanan Ashrawi's remarks delivered today
at a press conference in response to the US-sponsored
"Bahrain Workshop", titled "Peace to Prosperity". Dr.
Ashrawi is a senior member of the Palestine Liberation
Organization's Executive Committee.
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Khalil Jahshan
We
will speak live with Dr. Jahshan about the "Bahrain
Workshop".
Dr. Khalil Jahshan is Executive Director of the Arab Center
Washington DC, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank
focusing on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, as well
as furthering economic, political, and social understanding
of the Arab World in the United States. He is a
Palestinian-American political analyst and media
commentator. He previously served as Executive Director at
Pepperdine University, Executive Vice President of the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and
director of its government affairs affiliate (NAAA-ADC),
Vice President of the American Committee on Jerusalem,
President of the National Association of Arab Americans,
National Director of the Association of Arab-American
University Graduates (AAUG), Assistant Director of Palestine
Research and Educational Center, and Lecturer in Arabic at
the University of Chicago Extension and at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois. Mr. Jahshan has served on
the boards of directors, and advisory boards of various
Middle East-oriented groups, including ANERA, MIFTAH and
Search for Common Ground. |
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Date: |
June 19, 2019  |
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Topic: |
Juneteenth Special
1st
Segment:
Mustafaa Carroll
Civil
rights activist, board member with the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) and previously
served as its Executive Director. Carroll began his civil
rights activism at 16 as President of the NAACP Youth
Council in his hometown of Gary, Indiana. Prior to his
arrival in Houston in June 2010, he served as Board
President at CAIR-TX DFW and then Executive Director. He has
also served on several other boards over the years, and was
just voted to serve on the board of the Americans United for
Separation of Church and State. Mustafaa Carroll received
several awards and recognitions over the years for his work,
including the 2017 CAIR National Leadership Award.
We will speak live with Mustafaa about Juneteenth (today,
June 19, 2019 is Juneteenth Day),
how the advent of slavery and Jim Crow laws affect the
American psyche, how slavery and oppression of black
people manifest politically and socio-economically
domestically, how do these cultural influences play out on
the world stage and the U.S. foreign policy, the
intersection between the civil rights movement for blacks,
other minority groups, and movements in the U.S. and on the
world stage, the underpinnings of the current state of
affairs with regards to Islamophobia and xenophobia, and
what can be done by the ecumenical or religious community,
governmental representatives, lawmakers, educators and
individuals to impact a positive change and unity within the
society.
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Melina Abdullah
Professor
and Chair of Pan-African Studies at California State
University, Los Angeles, and Co-founder of Black Lives
Matter LA chapter. She was appointed to the Los Angeles
County Human Relations Commission in 2014 and is a
recognized expert on race, gender, class, and social
movements. Abdullah is the author of numerous articles and
book chapters, with subjects ranging from political
coalition building to womanist mothering. Professor Abdullah
is a womanist scholar-activist – understanding the role that
she plays in the academy as intrinsically linked to broader
struggles for the liberation of oppressed people. Melina is
the recipient of many awards over the years, and was
recognized by LA Weekly as one of the 10 most influential
Los Angeles leaders, “Urban Girl of the Year” by
2UrbanGirls, and one of the 15 “Fiercest Sisters” of 2015 by
Fierce.
Dr, Melina Abdullah spoke at the University of Houston at an event organized by nine University of
Houston student organizations and sponsored by the UH
History Department.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to her talk at UH on
the way blacks were treated in the U.S., the struggle for
black people and being slaves, Black Lives Matter movement,
Police abuse, killing of black people, the struggles for
justice, the importance of understanding what is happening
to blacks in the U.S. and how that parallels to what is
happening to the Palestinian people, how the struggle for
black freedom in the U.S. is intrinsically tied to the
struggle of oppressed people around the globe, especially
the Palestinian people, and how freedom is a constant
struggle. |
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Date: |
June 12, 2019  |
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Topic: |
"A History of Activist Repression" by
Zoha Khalili
Zoha
Khalili is a staff attorney for
Palestine Legal. She provides legal advice and advocacy
support to Palestine rights activists, students and
professors on the West Coast on issues ranging from free
speech violations, discrimination, threats, surveillance and
disciplinary charges. Zoha's legal career has been devoted
to defending the rights of marginalized communities.
On April 15, 2019, Zoha Khalili spoke at the University of
Houston Law Center on the topic "A History of Activist
Repression". She delivered a historical analysis of activist
repression in the United States, examples of the types of
suppression that people have faced when engaging in
advocacy, the types of issues that have affected people
advocating for Palestine, lessons to learn, Dos and Don'ts,
resources, and more.
During her lecture and the Q&A session that followed, she
talked about Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Black
Panthers, American Indian Movement, COINTELPRO (COunter
INTELligence PROgram), the different forms of propaganda,
the Espionage and Sedition Acts, loyalty oaths,
surveillance, infiltrators, informants, pro-Palestinian
groups, deportation of Palestinian activists, BDS movement,
BDS laws, Israel Anti-Boycott Act, Counter Violent Extremism
(CVE), and more.
The event was organized by Defend Our Voice Coalition
at the University of Houston.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air that lecture and some of
the questions and answers that followed. |
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Date: |
June 5, 2019  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi's interview on Democracy Now!
Dr.
Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation
Organization’s executive committee, was interviewed last
Thursday, May 30, 2019, on Democracy Now!, in which she
talked about the Israeli elections, the Trump
administration’s so-called “peace plan”, her reaction to the
conference or workshop the U.S. has scheduled in Bahrain
next month, her response to the U.S. denying her a visa to
come to the United States, and more.
Today on Arab Voices, we will re-air that interview.
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Khalid Mustafa Medani
Associate
Professor of Political Science and Islamic Studies, and
Chair of the African Studies Program at McGill University.
He has published numerous articles on the roots of civil
conflict and the funding of the Islamic movement in Sudan,
the question of informal finance and terrorism in Somalia,
the obstacles to state building in Iraq, and the role of
informal networks in the rise of Islamic militancy. His
current book project is on Globalization, Informal Markets
and Collective Action: The Development of Islamic and Ethnic
Politics in Egypt, Sudan and Somalia.
We will speak live with Professor Medani about the situation
in Sudan, the mass protests in the country, the bloody
massacre in which at least 102 protesters were killed and
hundreds were wounded at a sit-in in the Sudanese capital of
Khartoum on Monday, and more. |
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Date: |
May 29, 2019  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Houston Iftar
Annual Ramadan Dinner Remarks
More
than 1,800 people attended the 20th anniversary
of the Houston Iftar Annual Ramadan Dinner on May 11, 2019. The keynote speaker was Sylvester
Turner, Mayor of the City of Houston. Several elected
officials and others spoke at the event, and today on Arab
Voices, we will listen to some of those remarks delivered by
Emcee
Mona Khalil,
Sohail Syed,
President of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston,
Congressman Al Green,
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee,
and
Sylvester Turner,
Mayor of the City of Houston.
The event was organized by the Houston Abu Dhabi, Houston Baku,
Houston
Istanbul and Houston Karachi Sister City Associations, along
with the Islamic Society of Greater Houston and other
collaborating organizations and sponsors.
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2nd
Segment:
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's California Remarks
We
will air today the full speech of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar
(D-MN) delivered on March 23, 2019, at the 4th
Annual Valley Banquet hosted by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations California (CAIR-LA). There were
hateful attacks, incitement of violence and hate-based smear
campaign against Representative Omar after she delivered
that speech (based on four words taken out of context), but
Arab Voices will be airing her entire remarks on the show
today.
In 2018, Congresswoman Omar won the congressional seat
vacated by Rep. Keith Ellison, the first American Muslim
elected to Congress, becoming one of the first two American
Muslim women elected to Congress. |
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Date: |
May 22, 2019  |
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Topic: |
"Al-Nakba" and "The
Occupation of the American Mind" Documentaries
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Today on Arab Voices, we will air different segments than
what we aired last week of both "Al-Nakba" documentary and
"The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public
Relations War in The United States" documentary.
Because KPFT is currently in Spring Fund Drive, Arab
Voices will be offering "Al-Nakba" DVD documentary as
a "Thank-You Gift" to those who pledge $150. We are also
offering another DVD documentary titled "The Occupation
of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The
United States" for $100, and both documentaries are
available for $200.
Please consider a contribution to keep Arab Voices on KPFT.
You can call during the show on Wednesday between 6 and 7 pm
central time and pledge your support (713-526-5738), or send
e-mail to
ArabVoices@hotmail.com with your name and the amount you
want to pledge.
Thank you.
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Spring Fund Drive |
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Date: |
May 15, 2019  |
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Topic: |
71st Anniversary of Al-Nakba
(The Catastrophe)
Today, May 15, 2019, marks the 71st anniversary of
Al-Nakba (Arabic word for The Catastrophe), that's when
Israel declared its independence on 78% of historic
Palestine after wiping out more than 530 Palestinian
villages and towns, killing thousands of Palestinians and
forcing more than 850,000 Palestinians out of their homes.
The Palestinians started referring to that as Al-Nakba,
which actually started before 1948 and it continues to this
day!
Today on Arab Voices, we will be talking about Al-Nakba,
and also air portions of a special award-winning
documentary, entitled "Al-Nakba".
And because KPFT is currently in Spring Fund Drive, Arab
Voices will be offering "Al-Nakba" DVD documentary as
a "Thank-You Gift" to those who pledge $150. We are also
offering another DVD documentary titled "The Occupation
of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The
United States" for $100, and both documentaries are
available for $200.
Please consider a contribution to keep Arab Voices on KPFT.
You can call during the show on Wednesday between 6 and 7 pm
central time and pledge your support (713-526-5738), or send
e-mail to
ArabVoices@hotmail.com with your name and the amount you
want to pledge.
BTW, a few years ago, Pacifica Radio Network, produced a
special documentary about Al-Nakba, to which I contributed,
and it was aired on all Pacifica radio stations and their
affiliates across the U.S. It was a collaboration between
Arab Voices and several radio stations. This special
documentary featured know experts, Palestinian politicians,
elder survivors of the Nakba and their children and grand
children, former detainees, reporters, and activists.
Thank you.
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Spring Fund Drive |
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Date: |
May 8, 2019  |
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Topic: |
Arab Voices Needs Your Support
KPFT continues its Spring Fund Drive, and Arab Voices
Needs Your Support. We are offering the following "Thank-You Gift" during this drive
at the $100 pledge level:
"The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public
Relations War in The United States" DVD - We will air portions of this documentary on
the show today.
Please call 713-526-5738 between 6 pm and 7 pm central time
on Wednesday and support your commercial-free community radio
station. You can also send email to
info@ArabVoices.net
with your name and the amount you'd like to pledge.
Thank you.
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Spring Fund Drive |
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Date: |
May 1, 2019  |
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Guests |
Bahia
Amawi
Palestinian-American
speech pathologist who has worked with the Pflugerville
Independent School District (PFISD) in Austin, Texas for
nine years. She has a master’s degree in speech pathology,
and has specialized in evaluations for young children with
language difficulties. Bahia is a U.S. citizen, who was born
in Austria and has lived in the U.S. for the last 30 years,
and has four U.S.-born American children.
In December 2018, Bahia Amawi filed a federal
lawsuit against Pflugerville Independent School District and
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for violating
her First Amendment right of free speech
and challenging Texas Anti-BDS
Act, H.B. 89., after she lost her
job because she refused to sign
a “No Boycott of Israel” clause.
Bahia won her case on April 25, 2019 when a federal judge
ruled that Texas law banning state contractors from
boycotting Israel violates the First Amendment.
John
T. Floyd
Criminal Defense Lawyer based in
Houston, Texas, and a volunteer Civil Rights Lawyer for the
Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR Houston). He is
also a Board Member with CAIR Houston. John T. Floyd is
Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization, and has been providing defense services to
clients in federal and state courts for over twenty years.
John T. Floyd is the attorney representing Bahia Amawi,
along with CAIR Legal Defense Fund, who filed the lawsuit
against Pflugerville
Independent School District and Ken Paxton.
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Topic: |
We will speak live with both
Bahia Amawi and John T. Flyed about last week's landmark
court
victory in Texas by the Council on American-Islamic
Relations Legal Defense Fund in the First Amendment lawsuit
filed on behalf of Bahia Amawi who lost her job because she
refused to sign a “No Boycott of Israel” clause. We will
talk about what happens next, and the plans to challenge 26
other states that have already passed unconstitutional anti-BDS
laws.
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Date: |
April 24, 2019 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
April 24, 2019, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of John King.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. |
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Date: |
April 17, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Khalil
AbuSharekh
We
will speak with Houston Palestine Film Festival's board
member, Khalil
AbuSharekh, about the 13th annual
Houston Palestine
Film Festival (HPFF). The festival will
showcase a number of award-winning and internationally
acclaimed feature films, documentaries and shorts that
address a variety of themes and narratives in Palestinian
society, including Alexandra Dol’s documentary “Beyond the
Frontlines: Tales of Resistance and Resilience from
Palestine,” which won the Sunbird Award for Best Documentary
Film at the 2017 Palestine Cinema Days Festival. Beyond the
Frontlines features Palestinian psychiatrist Dr. Samah Jabr
who thoughtfully explores the psychological wounds of war
and occupation borne by a resilient people intent on
resisting. Alexandra Dols and Dr. Samah Jabr will both be
present post-screening on the opening night of April 26 to
engage the audience in a Q&A session.
The Houston
Palestine Film Festival will be held
April 26 through May 4 at
the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Rice University Media
Center.
Click here for more details and Program Lineup.
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Kamel Mohanna
Founder
of Amel
Association International (مؤسسة عامل الدولية),
an independent nonprofit, non-confessional Lebanese
organization dedicated to saving lives and generating a
democratic and prosperous Lebanon, and a nominee for the
2019 Nobel Peace Prize,
who dedicated his life to help the displaced, the sick and
the abandoned. Dr. Kamel Mohanna was born in
Khiyam village (South Lebanon) and spent
his early life there. Marked by an arduous childhood facing
poverty and inequality, he became a man with the courage to
choose the right but challenging options instead of the
easiest ones. Originally pediatrician, Dr. Kamel Mohanna
strengthen his humanitarian commitment after the second
Israeli invasion of South Lebanon (1978) when he founded the
NGO Amel Association in collaboration with a group of
doctors, teachers, journalists and intellectuals. During the
war, Amel Association played a significant role providing
relief and emergency response. Since then, the NGO has
established a considerable network of dispensaries, clinics,
medical centers, and a dedicated team of more than 800
volunteers and aid workers. Dr. Kamel Mohanna was honored
with several titles recognizing his courage and humanitarian
action in favor of the most vulnerable during the war. Among
a long series of titles, he received the Order of Honor on
behalf of President Jacques Chirac in 1998 for his long
commitment to caring for the injured abroad and the Civil
Peace and Human Rights Prize (Joseph and Laure Moghaizel
Foundation) in collaboration with the UNDP Programme in
2006. During his career, Dr. Kamel Mohanna continued to
practice pediatrics while teaching as a Professor at the
University. As the General Coordinator of the Lebanese NGOs
Network he gave rise to a nation-wide campaign entitled “Khallas”,
a civil society initiative urging politicians to end the
current deadlock in Lebanon.
We will speak live with Dr. Kamel Mohanna about his work and
Amel Association International, that is providing many
services to Lebanese, as well as Syrian and Palestinian
refugees. |
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Date: |
April 10, 2019  |
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Topic: |
"The
Early History of the Arab-American Community" by Professor
Akram Khater
The
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and The
Arab-American Education Foundation Chair in Modern Arab
History at the University of Houston held the Nijad and Zeina Fares
Arab-American Educational Foundation Annual Distinguished
Lecture in Modern Arab Studies on February 19, 2019, at the
University of Houston. The lecture was titled
"The Early
History of the Arab-American Community", and the
speaker was Professor
Akram Khater.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen
to Professor Khater's lecture on "The
Early History of the Arab-American Community".
Akram Khater Ph.D. (UC Berkeley) is University Faculty
Scholar, Professor of History, Khayrallah Chair in Diaspora
Studies, and Director of the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese
Diaspora Studies at North Carolina State University. His
books include Inventing Home: Emigration, Gender and the
Making of a Lebanese Middle Class, 1861-1921; A History of
the Middle East: A Sourcebook for the History of the Middle
East and North Africa; and Embracing the Divine: Passion and
Politics in the Christian Middle East. He is the editor of
the International Journal of Middle East Studies, has
completed a 2012 PBS documentary on the history of the
Lebanese community in North Carolina, was the senior curator
for a museum exhibit on the same topic that opened on
February 21, 2014, and was also the curator of the traveling
exhibit, The Lebanese in America, which has toured six US
cities, and will continue to tour through 2019. |
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Date: |
April 3, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Houston
Palestinian Festival
A
live conversation with
Dr. Waleed Faris,
President of the
Palestinian American Cultural Center, organizer of the
9th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival, and
Alma AlQuqa,
senior festival committee member.
We will speak with them
about the
9th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival that will be
held Saturday-Sunday, April 6-7, 2019 at
The Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park, 105 Sabine Street, in
Houston.
This year, the festival will showcase the Palestinian cities
lost in 1948, and it will include:
- A new and much larger downtown venue: Water Works at
Buffalo Bayou
- An exciting cultural collaboration with Cafe Mawal
- Various Palestinian cuisine from local food vendors
- Cultural music and dance performances from all around
Palestine
- Palestinian Pagentry where you watch and learn about
Palestinian thobes
- Showcase of a traditional Palestinian wedding
- A larger kids entertainment section with extended hours
- A larger shopping Bazar to give you the ultimate shopping
experience with a variety of vendors, such as Henna tattoos,
embroidery, arts, clothing, home decor and much more
- And much more live entertainment
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2nd
Segment:
National Arab American
Heritage Month
A
live conversation with
Sarah Kassis Izzat,
a volunteer serving on the board of a special project with
Arab
America that was formed 3 years ago in order to unify
efforts to achieve official recognition and awareness of
Arab American heritage and culture throughout the country,
and
Ahmad Alaswad,
Arab-American Cultural & Community Center Board Member,
and Chief of Staff at the Office of Fort Bend County
Commissioner Ken DeMerchant (the first Arab Chief of Staff
in the greater Houston area).
We will speak with them about the National Arab American
Heritage Month, that aims to educate and enlighten the
public about Arab contributions to American culture and to
combat the negative media portrayal of Arabs in the U.S. We
will talk about the
proclamations issued nationwide by several states and
various government officials and school boards, including
locally the City of Houston (issued by Mayor Sylvester
Turner), Houston Independent School District, Fort Bend
Independent School District, Fort Bend County Commissioner,
and Fort Bend County Judge, proclaiming the month of April
as National Arab American Heritage Month. We will also talk
about the
events planned during the month of April by the Arab
American Cultural & Community Center, and share some ideas
and recommendations for others. |
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Date: |
March 27, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
John Quigley
Professor
emeritus of international law at Ohio State University, who
is active in international human rights work. His numerous
publications include books and articles on human rights, the
United Nations, war and peace, east European law, African
law, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He authored several
books including The
Statehood of Palestine: International Law in the Middle East
Conflict (2010),
The Six-Day War and Israeli Self-Defense: Questioning the
Legal Basis for Preventive War (2013),
and
The International Diplomacy of Israel’s Founders: Deception
at the United Nations in the Quest for Palestine (2016).
Professor Quigley participated in the fourth session of the
Russell Tribunal on Palestine - New York Session in 2012. In
1995 he was recipient of The Ohio State University
Distinguished Scholar Award. He formerly held the title of
President’s Club Professor of Law.
We will speak live with professor Quigley about about
President Trump's recognition of "Israel’s sovereignty" over
the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, and how that violates
International Law. The Golan Heights is a Syrian land that
has been occupied by Israel since 1967. In 1981, Israel
annexed the Syrian Golan Heights, despite numerous United
Nations resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw its
occupation from the Syrian Golan Heights, and the
Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
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2nd
Segment:
"U.S. Foreign Aid and the
Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program"
We
will air today the remarks of
Grant F. Smith,
director of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Research:
Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) on the topic "U.S. Foreign
Aid and the Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program". Smith is
the author of the 2016 book Big Israel: How Israel’s
Lobby Moves America and Divert! Numec, Zalman Shapiro
and the Diversion of U.S. Weapons-Grade Uranium Into the
Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program (2012). He has also
written two histories of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC). America’s Defense Line: The Justice
Department's Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents
of a Foreign Government and Foreign Agents: AIPAC from the
1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal.
Smith’s reports about the Israel lobby and Freedom of
Information Act lawsuits to reveal official U.S. policy on
Israel’s nuclear program appear frequently in the
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Antiwar.com
news website.
"U.S. Foreign Aid and the Israeli Nuclear Weapons
Program" by Grant F. Smith
In 1969, the Department of Defense, intelligence community
and Department of State recommended President Richard Nixon
uphold the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons and pressure the Israelis to stop their nuclear
weapons program by withholding U.S. arms. U.S. deliberations
considered Israel’s illegal diversion of U.S. weapons grade
uranium. However, the Nixon administration adopted Israel’s
policy of “ambiguity” toward Israel’s nukes. Why did this
happen? How has “ambiguity” been maintained for a half
century? What law governs U.S. foreign aid to non-NPT
signatory nuclear countries, and how is this law continually
subverted? How has the pattern of action leading to
“ambiguity” been repeated in other key U.S. policy areas of
interest to Israel and its lobby?
Smith delivered those remarks at
The Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference held on
March 22, 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
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Date: |
March 20, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
5th Annual Lebanese Festival
A
live conversation with
Hiba Elroz,
media chair for the
Lebanese Festival and board member with the
American Lebanese Cultural
Center about the
5th Annual
Lebanese Festival that will be held Saturday and Sunday, March
23-24 at
Constellation Field, in Sugar Land, Texas, organized by the
American Lebanese Cultural
Center in Houston.
There will be delicious food, nonstop dancing, and
activities for the whole family which include a NEW bazaar
this year named "Made in Lebanon" that will bring a range of
authentic Lebanese products and brands to you! ALCC will
also sponsor a Walk for Hope during the festival weekend and
contribute a portion of festival entrance proceeds to
benefit the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon, an
affiliated hospital of St. Jude Children's Research
Hospital.
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2nd
Segment:
New Zealand Terrorist Attack
We
will talk about the terrorist attack that killed 50 Muslims
and injured 50 others at two mosques in New
Zealand on March 15, 2019. We will listen to the reaction
and remarks of
Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister,
and Waleed Aly,
an Australian Muslim, writer, academic, lawyer, media
presenter and musician, co-host of Network Ten's news and
current affairs television program "The Project", who lives
in New Zealand. We will also listen to the remarks of
Nihad Awad,
National Executive Director and co-founder of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest non-profit
Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United
States, and the remarks of
Sylvester Turner,
Mayor of the City of Houston.
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3rd Segment:
AAEF Center for Arab Studies
at University of Houston
The
Arab-American Educational Foundation (AAEF) in Houston
signed an agreement with the University of Houston, a Tier
One Research Institution, on March 7, 2019, to launch a
center for Arab studies at UH with a million dollar
endowment. It was another historic milestone reached by the
AAEF Board of Directors, led by Dr. Aziz Shaibani, AAEF
President. The AAEF announced right after the agreement was
signed (which stipulated that the million dollar be paid
over three years), that it actually raised the money and was
ready to transfer it to the university the following week.
In 2011, the AAEF initiated an endowment campaign and
successfully raised one million dollar to establish a Chair
of Modern Arab History at the University of Houston, a
position held by Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti since 2015. In
1995, the AAEF raised another one million dollar to
establishment a Chair in Arab Studies at Rice University, a
position held by Dr. Ussama Makdisi since 1997. The next
phase would be for the AAEF to raise a million dollar to
have its name given to the center.
Today on the show, we will listen to some of the remarks
shared by some of the attendees at the celebration launch
event held on March 7, 2019 at Mr. Nijad and Mrs. Zeina
Fares' house where the agreement was signed. We will listen
to the remarks of
Mr. Nijad Fares,
Dr. Renu Khator,
Chancellor of the University of Houston System and President
of the University of Houston,
Mr. Farouk Shami,
who donated half a million dollars for the new center, and
Dr.
Aziz Shaibani,
President of the Arab-American Educational Foundation.
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4th
Segment:
Dr. Nadia Abuelezam
Creator,
Producer, and Host of
Palestinians Podcast. She is Palestinian-American, and
is a public health researcher and professor interested in
domestic and international health disparities. She is an
accomplished teacher and storyteller with a passion for the
craft of storytelling and narrative. She values storytelling
and its impact in building community and creating unity
within the Palestinian diaspora. Dr. Abuelezam has performed
stories on stages across the United States.
We will speak with Dr. Abuelezam about the Palestinians
Podcast, and her upcoming visit to Houston to conduct the
Palestinian Narrative Training Program to be held at the
University of Houston on March 30-31, 2019. |
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Date: |
March 13, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Alex McDonald
Founder
of Texas
Coalition for Human Rights. He is an Internet marketer and business consultant
based in Houston, Texas. Alex just returned last week from a
10-day visit to Iran as part of a 28 person peace delegation
organized by
Code
Pink, a women-led peace and human rights organization.
In 2018, Alex was part of the ground crew for the 2018
Freedom Flotilla for the Norwegian fishing boat Al Awda (The Return) in La Rochelle, France and
was a crew member for one week in Northern France onboard
the Mairead. In 2017, Alex McDonald visited occupied
Palestine and Israel with an interfaith peace group, and has
been very concerned about the active role the U.S. has in
oppressing the Palestinian people and supporting the
violation of human rights.
We will speak with Alex about his visit to Iran and what he
witnessed there, the impact of the U.S. sanctions on the
Iranian people, the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear
agreement (JCPOA), and his talk with the Iranian Foreign
Minister, Javad Zarif, and others.
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2nd
Segment:
Abed A. Ayoub
National
Legal & Policy Director of the
American-Arab
Anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC), the
largest Arab American civil rights organization in the U.S. Through his position, Ayoub works to address
issues impacting Arabs and Muslims in the United States,
including discrimination, hate crimes, and profiling. Ayoub
also works to enhance the community’s economic empowerment
and access to education. Ayoub also represents the Arab and
Muslim community on Capitol Hill, working regularly with
members of Congress. He regularly appears as a community
voice/contributor on national and international news
outlets. Ayoub is a native of Dearborn, Michigan, which is
home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans. Before
joining ADC, Ayoub was in private practice in Michigan,
specializing in immigration and criminal law. Outside of
ADC, he works with a number of organizations on interfaith
projects and has participated in numerous diversity training
programs throughout the country.
We will speak with Abed Ayoub
about the recent/historic resolution voted on condemning
Anti-Muslim bigotry, the attacks against speaking truth
regarding the Israel Lobby influence on politicians,
accusations of anti-semitism against congresswoman Ilhan
Omar, media attacks on Arabs, Tucker Carlson’s attack on
Iraqi and Arab culture, and more. |
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Date: |
March 6, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Dr. Nabeel Shalan
Palestinian
American medical doctor, and organizer/promoter of a tour
for the "Fozi Mozi & Tutti" Palestinian group in four U.S.
cities during the month of April, including Houston.
We will speak with Dr. Shalan about the tour that is
offering Arab children living in the U.S. the unique
opportunity to be part of a children's show in their mother
tongue, which will help connect them with their roots and
heritage.
"Fozi Mozi & Tutti" group is coming from Palestine, and has
performed live shows in different countries including
Palestine, other Arab countries, and Europe. It is a
performance group oriented toward children all over the
world. Their programs on YouTube have been dubbed in
multiple languages. "Fozi Mozi & Tutti" play the role of two
mischievous children, who along with their smart little
sister Mandalina, learn as they navigate through daily life.
Their fun-filled programs and live shows include plenty of
songs and sketches that combine educational value with
entertainment.
The
Houston performance (presented in Arabic) will be held
on April 4, 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Cullen Theater at the
Wortham Center.
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2nd
Segment:
Dr. Hatem Bazian
Teaching
Professor in the Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic
Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and he is
also Provost, Co-Founder and Professor at Zaytuna College,
the 1st Accredited Muslim Liberal Arts College in the United
States. Dr. Bazian is an adviser to the Religion, Politics,
and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley. In 2009, he founded
the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at UC
Berkeley, Editor-in-Chief of the Islamophobia Studies
Journal and Founder and Director of the International
Islamophobia Studies Consortium. Dr. Bazian is on the board
of several organizations, including the Islamic Scholarship
Fund, Muslim Legal Fund of America and Muslim Americans for
Palestine, for which he is also the founding president. Dr.
Bazian publishes articles and papers frequently, and he is
author of several books, including "Annotations on Race,
Colonialism, Islamophobia, Islam and Palestine", and
"Palestine: ...it is something colonial".
We will speak with Dr. Bazian
about the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine, the newly
released report by the U.N. on
Israeli crimes and the
efforts to silence critics, the mounting criticism and
accusations of anti-semitism against congresswoman Ilhan
Omar, and more.
Dr. Hatem Bazian was profiled last week in a newly published
New Yorker piece “How a Private Israeli Intelligence Firm
Spied on Pro-Palestinian Activists in the U.S.” |
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Date: |
February 27, 2019  |
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Topic: |
Arab Voices Needs Your Support
KPFT continues its Winter Fund Drive, and Arab Voices
Needs Your Support to raise $2,150. We are offering
several "Thank-You" Gifts during this drive, including:
"Roadmap To Apartheid" documentary DVD narrated by
Alice Walker - NEW offering by
Arab Voices - We will air portions of this documentary on
the show today.
"This is Our Constitution" Book by Khaizr Khan - NEW offering by Arab Voices
"An American Family" Book by Khaizr Khan - NEW offering by Arab Voices
"The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public
Relations War in The United States" DVD - We will air portions of this documentary on
the show today.
"National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism" book
by Melvin Goodman
"Whistleblower at the CIA: An Insider’s Account of the
Politics of Intelligence" book by Melvin Goodman
"Ralph Nader: Empowering People in the Trump Era" DVD
"All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of
I.F. Stone" DVD
Please call 713-526-5738 between 6 pm and 7 pm central time
TODAY and support your commercial-free community radio
station. You can also send email to
info@ArabVoices.net
with your name and the amount you'd like to pledge.
Thank you.
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Winter Fund Drive |
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Date: |
February 20, 2019  |
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Topic: |
Re-Airing Portions of Previous Interviews with Melvin
Goodman
Melvin
Goodman is Director
of the National Security Project at the Center for
International Policy in Washington, DC, and a
professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He was
an analyst at the CIA for 24 years; a former analyst at the
State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research; and
author of several books on international security, including
"National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism"
and "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the
CIA". His latest book is "Whistleblower at the CIA".
Goodman helped draft the report that described Israel’s
attack against Egypt on the morning of June 5, 1967.Last
year, he
published the piece
The Six Day War and Israeli Lies: What I Saw at the CIA.
Goodman has written numerous articles and op-eds over the
years, appeared on various media outlets, and has lectured
all over the country. He is also the national security
columnist for counterpunch.org.
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Winter Fund Drive |
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Date: |
February 13, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Taher Herzallah
Associate
Director of Outreach & Community Organizing for
American Muslims for Palestine. He is one of the 'Irvine
11,' a group of students who were arrested and prosecuted
for expressing their constitutionally protected rights of
free speech and political dissent when they walked out of a
speech given by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at UC Irvine
in 2010. Mr. Herzallah was also one of six people arrested
for protesting the appointment of David Friedman as US
ambassador to Israel at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee
hearing in February 2017. He has had articles published in
various media outlets including the Orange County Register
and Al Jazeera English. He has been featured on several
media and radio interviews throughout the US and
internationally. Taher Herzallah studied Political Science
and International Affairs at UC Riverside.
We will speak live with Taher Herzallah about
American Muslims for Palestine organization, and the
work it does, including the upcoming
Palestine Advocacy Day & Training scheduled to be held
April 5-8, 2019, in Washington, D.C. We will also talk about
the attempts to suppress free speech on college campuses, and
the recent attacks against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
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2nd
Segment:
Hanan Awad
Palestinian
American living in Edmond, Oklahoma, USA. Hanan is an
established street photographer. She held multiple photo
galleries in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and the United States. She
received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University,
NJ in Middle Eastern Studies, Film-making certificate from
New York Film Academy and her Masters in double major
focusing on Latin America and the Middle East at the
University of Central Oklahoma. Her many visits to Palestine
got her interested in the forced displacement of the Jahalin
Bedouins, a concept that now stands as the main emphasis of
her research.
We will speak live with Hanan
Awad about the Palestinian Bedouins in occupied Palestine
and what she witnessed when she visited several of their
villages. We will talk about the ongoing Israeli ethnic
cleansing, destruction and displacement of the Bedouin
villages in Palestine including Khan Al-Ahmar, Israel’s
“Judaisation” plan, and laws it passes against the
Palestinian Bedouins, Israel's colonial demographic
policies, and more. |
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Date: |
February 6, 2019  |
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Topic: |
CAIR-Houston's Annual
Banquet: "Faith Led, Justice Driven"
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations Texas (Houston
Chapter) held its 17th Annual Banquet on December 9, 2018, in Houston under the theme "Faith
Led, Justice Driven". Several local community members, faith
leaders, and elected officials attended the event that
featured an awards ceremony recognizing several individuals.
It was a celebration and review of CAIR-Houston's achievements and it
also highlighted how
to work together to protect civil rights and share a
positive message about Islam and Muslims.
There were several remarks delivered at the event, and today we
will listen to some of them, including those of
Mohammed
Nasrullah, CAIR-Houston
President and Board Chairman;
Congresswoman Sheila
Jackson Lee;
and
Linda Sarsour,
award-winning racial and civil rights activist, community
organizer, and former Executive Director of the Arab
American Association of New York and co-founder of the first
Muslim online organizing platform, MPOWER Change. |
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Date: |
January 30, 2019 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
January 30, 2019, for a special "Execution Watch" live
coverage of the planned Texas execution of Robert Jennings.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, February 6, 2019. |
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Date: |
January 23, 2019  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
“Houstonians Views on
Muslim Americans” by
Robert L. McKenzie
Robert
L. McKenzie is a
Senior
fellow at
New
America and director of its Muslim Diaspora
Initiative. He is a domestic and foreign policy
analyst and scholar of the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA), with fifteen years of applied research and work
experience for the U.S. government, private sector, and
academia. An anthropologist by training, McKenzie is an
expert in displaced persons, refugee resettlement and
integration, and Arab and Muslim communities in the United
States and Europe. McKenzie is an adjunct professor at
Georgetown University and he has been a lecturer at Wayne
State University (Detroit), a researcher at the American
University in Cairo, and a visiting scholar at the
University of Oxford. In his latest book project McKenzie
explores humanitarian assistance and policy solutions to
protracted refugee situations in the Middle East.
We will speak live with Dr. McKenzie about the newly
released results of a recent study entitled, “Houstonians
Views on Muslim Americans”, co-sponsored by Wasat
Institute and New America. This local study, as
part of a larger national study, breaks down the “whys” at
the heart of misunderstandings about Muslims in America. We
will talk with Dr. McKenzie about the key findings from this
study.
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2nd
Segment:
"Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial
Justice"
Making
Contact, an award-winning weekly
magazine/documentary-style public affairs program heard on
140 radio stations in the USA, Canada, South Africa and
Ireland,
produced a new edition titled “Uprooting
Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice”.
In this edition, Making Contact
speaks with author Paul Kivel
about his book, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can
Work for Racial Justice. This book offers a framework
for understanding institutional racism. It provides
practical suggestions, tools, examples, and advice on how
white people can intervene in interpersonal and
organizational situations to work as allies for racial
justice. Completely revised and updated, this expanded third
edition directly engages the reader through questions,
exercises, and suggestions for action, and takes a detailed
look at current issues such as affirmative action,
immigration, and health care. It also includes a wealth of
information about specific cultural groups such as Muslims,
people with mixed-heritage, Native Americans, Jews, recent
immigrants, Asian Americans, and Latinos.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to
“Uprooting
Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice”
edition by Making Contact.
Paul Kivel is an award-winning author and an accomplished
trainer and speaker. He has been a social justice activist,
a nationally and internationally recognized anti-racism
educator, and an innovative leader in violence prevention
for over forty years. |
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Date: |
January 16, 2019  |
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Topic: |
Law and Revolution in the Arab Spring
The
Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab
History at the University of Houston and The Arab-American
Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies at Rice
University, held an event at the University of Houston on
November 13, 2018 that featured
Dr. Nimer
Sultany,
Senior Lecturer in Public Law at SOAS, University of London,
and winner of the 2018 International Society of Public Law
Book Prize and the 2018 Society of Legal Scholars' Peter
Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship. Dr. Sultany
talked about his recent book Law and Revolution:
Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring.
This award winning book offers a critical re-examination of
political, legal, and constitutional theory in light of the
Arab Spring.
Dr. Sultany was introduced by Dr. Ussama Makdisi,
Professor of History and the first holder of the
Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies
at Rice University, and his talk was followed by commentary
from Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Associate Professor
and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern
Arab History at the University of Houston.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air the remarks delivered at
that event. |
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Date: |
January 9, 2019  |
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Topic: |
The Realities of Jerusalem Today
Today
on Arab Voices we will air the remarks delivered at "The
Realities of Jerusalem Today" panel held on October 11,
2018, at the Houston Jerusalem Conference entitled "JERUSALEM:
WHAT MAKES FOR PEACE?", organized by
Bright Stars of
Bethlehem. There were three speakers at that panel:
Osama Qawasmeh
Member of the Palestinian National Council
Tarek Abuata
Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North
America. He previously worked as the coordinator of the
Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron
Majed Bamya
Political Coordinator and Legal Adviser for the Permanent
Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United
Nations in New York, and Head of the International law and
Treaties Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
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Date: |
January 2, 2019  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Daniel McAdams
(re-airing last week's HD2 channel interview
on the FM radio)
Executive
Director of the
Ron
Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. He served as
the foreign affairs, civil liberties, and defense policy
advisor to U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R-Texas) from 2001
until Dr. Paul’s retirement at the end of 2012. From
1993-1999 he worked as a journalist based in Budapest,
Hungary, and traveled through the former communist bloc as a
human rights monitor and election observer.
We will speak live with Daniel about Syria, Israel's missile
attack on Syria on Christmas day, President Trump's decision
to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, will the U.S. actually
get out of Syria, what does that mean to Syria and the
region, and more.
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2nd Segment:
Dr. Shireen Al-Adeimi
(re-airing June 2018 interview)
A
Harvard University graduate who will soon begin a position
as an assistant professor of education at Michigan State
University. Having lived through two civil wars in her
country of birth, Yemen, she has played an active role in
raising awareness about the U.S.-supported, Saudi-led war on
Yemen since 2015. Through her work, she aims to encourage
political action among fellow Americans to bring about an
end to the U.S. intervention in Yemen.
We will speak live with Dr. Al-Adeimi about the catastrophic
and dire situation in Yemen as a result of the U.S.-supported Saudi-led war on Yemen, the refugee crisis this war has
created (today, June 20 is World Refugee Day), and the
recent deadly attack on Yemen’s port city of Al-Hudaydah. |
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Date: |
December 26, 2018
KPFT HD2 Channel |
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Please note that today's show was aired on KPFT's HD2 Channel, and
not the regular 90.1 FM radio!
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Hagai El-Ad's UN
Security Council Remarks
Hagai
El-Ad is an Israeli human rights activist and the Executive
Director of the Israeli human rights group
B’Tselem.
He is the former Executive Director of the Association for
Civil Rights in Israel and is also a blogger at The
Huffington Post. On October 18, 2018, Hagai addressed the
United Nations Security Council at its quarterly session
scheduled in accordance with Resolution 2334, in which he
talked about the Israeli occupation’s crimes and violations
against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza
Strip, and the humanitarian crisis there. During his
remarks, he called on the international community to take
action against Israeli apartheid. The Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his party publicly lashed
out against Hagai El-Ad over his UN remarks.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Hagai El-Ad's UN
Security Council Remarks.
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2nd
Segment:
Daniel McAdams
Executive
Director of the
Ron
Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. He served as
the foreign affairs, civil liberties, and defense policy
advisor to U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R-Texas) from 2001
until Dr. Paul’s retirement at the end of 2012. From
1993-1999 he worked as a journalist based in Budapest,
Hungary, and traveled through the former communist bloc as a
human rights monitor and election observer.
We will speak live with Daniel about Syria, Israel's missile
attack on Syria on Christmas day, President Trump's decision
to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, will the U.S. actually
get out of Syria, what does that mean to Syria and the
region, and more. |
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Date: |
December 19, 2018  |
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Guests: |
Bahia
Amawi
Palestinian-American
speech pathologist who has worked with the Pflugerville
Independent School District (PFISD) in Austin, Texas for
nine years. She has a master’s degree in speech pathology,
and has specialized in evaluations for young children with
language difficulties. Bahia is a U.S. citizen, who was born
in Austria and has lived in the U.S. for the last 30 years,
and has four U.S.-born American children.
On Monday, December 17, 2018, Bahia Amawi filed a federal
lawsuit against Pflugerville Independent School District and
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alleging a violation of
her First Amendment right of free speech, after she lost her
job because she refused to sign a pledge (Texas Government
Code 2270.001 - enacted in May 2017) that she “does not
currently boycott Israel,” and “will not boycott Israel
during the term of the contract,” and that she shall refrain
from any action “that is intended to penalize, inflict
economic harm on, or limit commercial relations with Israel,
or with a person or entity doing business in Israeli or in
an Israel-controlled territory.”
John
T. Floyd
Criminal Defense Lawyer based in
Houston, Texas, and a volunteer Civil Rights Lawyer for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston). He is
also a Board Member with CAIR-Houston. John T. Floyd is
Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal
Specialization, and has been providing defense services to
clients in federal and state courts for over twenty years.
John T. Floyd is the attorney representing Bahia Amawi,
along with CAIR Legal Defense Fund, who filed the lawsuit
against Pflugerville
Independent School District and Ken Paxton.
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Topic: |
We will speak live with both
Bahia Amawi and John T. Floyd about Bahia's case,
Texas Government
Code 2270.001 that prohibits Texas state agencies from
contracting with companies that boycott Israel and how that
violates the First Amendment rights. We will also talk about
the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (SR. 70) that was re-introduced
by Senator Ben Cardin to the 2019 annual omnibus
legislation, that can be voted on any day, which aims at
criminalizing boycotts of Israel.
Note: The ACLU of Texas also filed a
separate lawsuit on
December 18, 2018, challenging Texas Anti-Boycott Law on
behalf of four people: John Pluecker, a freelance writer who
lost two service contracts from the University of Houston;
George Hale, a reporter for KETR who was forced to sign the
certification against his conscience in order to keep his
job; Obinna Dennar, a Ph.D. candidate at Rice University,
who was forced to forfeit payment for judging at a debate
tournament; and Zachary Abdelhadi, a student at Texas State
University, who has had to forego opportunities to judge
high school debate tournaments. |
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Date: |
December 12, 2018  |
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Topic: |
National
Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA) Ben Qurrah Award Gala
The Houston Chapter
of the National Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA),
held its 11th biennial Ben Qurra Award Gala on
October 20, 2018, in Houston, Texas. The biennial Ben Qurra
Award Gala celebrates the achievements of prominent
scientists of Arab origin who have made major contributions
to science, medicine and health care and honors
those who have made remarkable contributions in the
field of medicine and who have succeeded in the worldwide
advancement of science. This year's honorees were Dr. Fadlo
Khuri, President of the American University of Beirut
and Professor of the Department of Hematology and Medical
Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine, and Dr. William Zoghbi,
Chair of the Department of Cardiology at Houston Methodist
Hospital and the Elkins Family Distinguished Chair in
Cardiac Health at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and
Vascular Center.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air the remarks
delivered at the 11th biennial Ben Qurra Award Gala including the remarks
of
Dr. Zaina Al-Mohtaseb,
NAAMA Houston Chapter President, and
Dr. Rouba Ali-Fehmi,
NAAMA National President. We will also listen to the remarks
of the honorees,
Dr. Fadlo Khuri
(introduced by
Dr. Raymond Sawaya)
and
Dr. William Zoghbi
(introduced by
Dr. Alan Lumsden). |
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Date: |
December 5, 2018  |
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Topics/
Guest: |
1st
Segment:
Marc Lamont Hill's UN Remarks
Marc
Lamont Hill is an
American academic, author, activist, and television
personality. He is a Professor of Media Studies and Urban
Education at Temple University in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. He was the host of the syndicated television
show Our World with Black Enterprise and hosts the
online Internet-based HuffPost Live. He is also a BET
News correspondent, and a former political commentator for
CNN and Fox News.
Professor Hill was fired from his position as a commentator
for CNN last week, one day after he called for equal rights
for all in historic Palestine in a speech he delivered on
November 28, 2018 at a special meeting of the Committee on
the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People, marking the International Day of Solidarity with the
Palestinian People. Furthermore, there is currently an
escalating campaign calling on Temple University to fire
Professor Marc Lamont Hill from his position at the
university.
During the 1st segment of the show today, we will air Dr.
Marc Lamont Hill's entire remarks delivered at the United
Nations.
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2nd
Segment:
Dima Khalidi
Founder
and Director of
Palestine Legal and Cooperating Counsel with the Center
for Constitutional Rights (CCR). Her work includes providing
legal advice to activists, engaging in advocacy to protect
their rights to speak out for Palestinian rights, and
educating activists and the public about the repression of
Palestine advocates. Dima worked with CCR as a cooperating
attorney on the Mamilla Cemetery Campaign, drafting a
Petition to United Nations officials to act against the
desecration of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. She
also worked on numerous cases that sought to hold Israeli
officials and corporations accountable for Israeli
violations of international law, including Belhas v. Ya’alon,
Matar et al. v. Dichter and Corrie v. Caterpillar, as well
as on CCR’s Guantanamo Bay docket. Prior to studying law,
Dima worked at Birzeit University, heading a research
project on the role of informal justice mechanisms in the
Palestinian legal system. She has advocated on Palestinian
rights issues in various media forums.
We will speak live with Dima Khalidi about Dr. Marc Lamont
Hill's remarks at the UN, CNN's decision to fire Hill and
the escalating campaign calling on Temple University to fire
professor Hill after his UN remarks, the false accusations
against professor Hill, and the legality of firing him from
CNN and possibly Temple University and how that would
violate the first amendment. We will also speak with Dima
Khalidi about the Israel Anti-Boycott Act that might be
snuck into a must-pass, year-end appropriations bill in the
U.S. Senate, and Kenneth Marcus, Trump’s Assistant Secretary
for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education
proposal to redefine anti-Semitism to include speech that
criticizes Israel! |
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Date: |
November 28, 2018  |
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Topic: |
ACC's Annual Unity & Friendship Gala
The
Arab American Cultural and Community Center (ACC) in Houston
held its Annual Unity and Friendship Gala on October 13,
2018, and it
highlighted the Culture and People of Palestine. The
Gala Chairs were Mrs. Abla Amin and Dr. Rania Elkhatib. The
Mistress of Ceremonies was international comedian, Mona
Aburmishan.
The ACC honorees were Dr. Osama and Dr. Lilian Gaber (2018
ACC Outstanding Community Service Award for Nora's Home),
Dr. Ussama Makdisi (2018 ACC Lifetime Achievement Award),
and Baker Hughes-Middle East Network Group (2018 ACC
Outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility Award).
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of the remarks
delivered at the Gala, including the remarks of
Dr. Faiza Zalila,
ACC President,
Dr. Abed
Takriti, introducing
and highlighting the people and culture of Palestine,
Dr. Rezik Saqer,
Palestinian American Cultural Center past president,
Dr. Ussama Makdisi
(introduced by
Dr. Abed
Takriti),
Dr. Osama
and Dr. Lilian Gaber
(introduced by
Dr. Waleed Gaber),
and
Derek Mathieson
with Baker Hughes (introduced by
Dr. Faiza Zalila).
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Date: |
November 21, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Lauren Booth
(in London)
British
journalist and broadcaster who has presented series for
amongst others: BBC Radio London, British Muslim TV, Press
TV and the Islam Channel. She publishes articles across a
wide platform and continues to tour internationally as a
public speaker. Her talks focus on human rights,
Islamophobia in the media, Palestinian justice and her own
conversion to Islam. Booth is author of the newly released
book "Finding Peace in the Holy Land: A British Muslim
Memoir". Lauren Booth is the sister-in-law of the former
British prime minister Tony Blair.
We will speak with Lauren Booth (in London) about her newly
released book "Finding
Peace in the Holy Land: A British Muslim Memoir", her
conversion to Islam, Islamophobia, her experience in
Palestine, and more.
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2nd
Segment: Alex McDonald
Founder
of Texas
Coalition for Human Rights that was formed in September 2018
to counter the new proposed changes by Texas State Board of
Education to Texas school curriculum. Alex is an Internet marketer and business consultant
in Houston,
Texas. He visited occupied Palestine and Israel in May
2017 with an interfaith peace group. As an American, he is
very concerned about the active role his country has in
oppressing the Palestinian people and supporting the
violation of human rights. In June 2018 he was part of the
ground crew for the 2018 Freedom Flotilla for the Norwegian
fishing boat Al Awda (The Return) in La Rochelle, France and
was a crew member for one week in Northern France onboard
the Mairead.
We will speak with Alex about the proposed changes to Texas
school curriculum by the Texas State Board of Education, in
which there were sections that asked students to "explain
how Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing
conflict.” It also focused exclusively on Islamic terrorism
without mentioning other religious terrorism or state
terrorism. We will talk about the efforts initiated by the
coalition he founded,
Texas
Coalition for Human Rights, including over 100 public
comments, several written statements and oral testimonies
(we will air some of them today) at the Texas State Board of
Education hearing held on November 13, 2018 that actually
caused the board to change the original proposed changes,
especially on Palestine and Israel. |
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Date: |
November 14, 2018 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
November 14, for a special "Execution Watch" live coverage of
the planned Texas execution of Robert Ramos.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, November 21, 2018. |
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Date: |
November 7, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Laila
Mokhiber
Director
of Communications at
UNRWA USA,
a nonprofit agency that supports the work of the
UNRWA
(United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East). Prior to joining UNRWA USA,
Laila worked at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee (ADC). Both positions illustrate Laila’s passions:
humanitarian concern for the people of Palestine and the
fight for social justice.
We will speak live with Laila about the UNRWA, the impact of
the recent funding cut by the US administration to UNRWA,
the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza and
Gaza's mental health crisis,
UNRWA USA and the work it does, and the upcoming
Houston Gaza 5K + Dabke Party, scheduled for
November 17, 2018.
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2nd
Segment: Kathy Kelly
Co-coordinator
of Voices for
Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military
and economic warfare. She is founder of
Voices in the Wilderness,
and previously served as coordinator of
Iraq Peace Team.
Kathy had visited Iraq many times, as well as Afghanistan
and the occupied Palestinian territories (in one of her
trips, she was shot at by Israeli snipers). In 2011, Kelly
was a passenger on the “Audacity to Hope” as part of the US
Boat to Gaza project. She also attempted to reach Gaza by
flying from Athens to Tel Aviv, as part of the Welcome to
Palestine effort, but the Israeli government deported her
back to Greece. Kathy Kelly, along with other Voices
activists formed 70 delegations that openly defied economic
sanctions by bringing medicines to children and families in
Iraq. She and her companions lived in Baghdad throughout the
2003 “Shock and Awe” bombing. Kelly has also joined with
activists in various regions of the country to protest U.S.
drone warfare by holding demonstrations outside of U.S.
military bases. In 1988, she was sentenced to one year in
federal prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo
sites, and spent three months in prison, in 2004, for
crossing the line at Fort Benning’s military training
school. Kelly is also author of the book "Other Lands Have
Dreams: from Baghdad to Pekin Prison (2005)", and has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
We will speak live with Kathy Kelly about the war on Yemen.
Kathy is currently in New York, along with others, holding
protests across from the U.N, "calling for an end to U.S.
support for and participation in the Saudi-led coalition's
war against Yemen and calling on all of the warring parties
to stop the war and help address the dire near-famine
conditions sparked by continued attacks." Kathy Kelly has
regularly written about the consequences of the
U.S.-supported war in Yemen. See her recent piece "U.S.
Is Complicit in Child Slaughter in Yemen." |
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Date: |
October 31, 2018  |
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Guest: |
Rabbi Arik Ascherman
Founder
and director of the Israeli human rights organization “Torat
Tzedek-Torah of Justice”. Previously, he led and served as
president and senior rabbi of “Rabbis For Human Rights”
organization for 21 years. In 2015, Rabbi Ascherman was
attacked by a knife-wielding Israeli settler in the West
Bank while trying to stop a group of Israeli settlers from
setting fire to Palestinian olive trees. Rabbi Ascherman has
been recognized for his human rights work and has been
featured in several documentary films, including the 2010
“Israel vs Israel.”
Rabbi Arik Ascherman
will be
in Houston speaking about his work to prevent the
destruction of Negev Bedouin villages and the villages of
Khan Al-Ahmar and Susya in the West Bank. He will also
reflect more broadly on the structure of power in Israel and
whether Israel can still be called a democracy. This event
will be held on Sunday, November 4, 2018 at 12 noon at the
Fireside Room, First Unitarian-Universalist Church, 5200
Fannin St., Houston 77004.
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Fall Fund Drive |
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Date: |
October 24, 2018  |
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Guest/
Topic: |
Rami Khouri
Senior
public policy fellow and journalism professor at American
University of Beirut, non-resident senior fellow at Harvard
Kennedy School, internationally syndicated political
columnist, and book author. He often comments on Mideast
issues in the international media, and lectures frequently
at conferences and universities throughout the world.
We will speak live with
Rami Khouri about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi
journalist and author, and a Washington Post Global Opinions
contributing columnist, who was murdered inside the Saudi
Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018,
and why this murder received huge attention and media
coverage in the U.S. and around the globe while the killings
of so many in Yemen, Syria, Palestine, and other places is
getting almost no mention! We will also talk about the
impact of this murder and
its aftermath
on the region and globally, the U.S.-Turkey-Saudi relations, and more.
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Fall Fund Drive |
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Date: |
October 17, 2018  |
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Topic: |
Affirmation for an Inclusive Jerusalem at the "Jerusalem:
What makes for Peace?" Houston Conference!
On
October 11, 2018, key faith leaders from across the U.S.
gathered at the "Jerusalem: What makes for Peace?"
conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, to advance the
vision of an inclusive, diverse, and equitable Jerusalem.
The U.S. Christian Leadership Summit issued a statement by
the four sponsoring organizations of The Jerusalem
Conference: Bright Stars of Bethlehem, National Council of
Churches, Churches for Middle East Peace, and the Samuel
DeWitt Proctor Conference.
Today on Arab Voices, we will air some of the conference
remarks by the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, President of Bright
Stars of Bethlehem, as well as the final statement issued at
the conference.
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Fall Fund Drive |
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Date: |
October 10, 2018  |
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Topic: |
Arab American
Poetry & Nonfiction Readings by Hayan Charara, Fady Joudah,
and Hosam Abul Ela
The Arab Am erican Cultural & Community Center (ACC) held
several events in Houston in April 2018 during the Fifth
Annual Arab Heritage Month. One of those events was the Arab
American Poetry & Non-fiction Readings and Conversation.
Today
on Arab Voices, we will listen to Distinguished Arab
American writers Dr. Hayan Charara and Dr. Fady Joudah who
read excerpts from a selection of their works at the ACC's
American Poetry & Non-fiction Readings event,
followed by a conversation with Dr. Hosam Abul Ela,
Associate Professor at the University of Houston English
department. |
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Date: |
October 3, 2018  |
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Guest: |
Rev. Dr.
Mitri Raheb
President
of
Bright Stars of Bethlehem and founding President of
Dar al-Kalima University of Arts and Culture in
Bethlehem. Former Senior Pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church
in Bethlehem and the most widely published Palestinian
theologian to date, Dr. Raheb is the author of 17 books most
recently including, The Cross in Contexts: Suffering and
Redemption in Palestine, and Faith in the Face of
Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes. A civic
leader and social entrepreneur, Dr. Raheb has founded
numerous organizations and serves on many regional and
international boards. A sought-after speaker, Dr. Raheb has
been widely featured on international media outlets
including CBS, CNN, ABC, BBC, PBS, The Economist, Washington
Post, Boston Globe, Newsweek, and 60 minutes. Dr. Raheb
holds a Doctorate in Theology from Philipps University of
Marburg, Germany.
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Topics: |
We will speak live with Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb about
Palestinian Christians, the ongoing Israeli occupation and
ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the effect of the Israeli
occupation on access to religious sites in Jerusalem and
Bethlehem, the importance of Jerusalem and Bethlehem to
Christians and other faiths, the U.S. recognition of
Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the move of the U.S.
Embassy to Jerusalem, the relations with other Christians
outside Palestine and other faith communities, the role of
the churches in the U.S., Europe and other countries, steps
to bring a lasting peace and an end to the Israeli
occupation, and much more!
We will also talk about the upcoming
"Jerusalem: What Makes for Peace?" Conference that will
be held in Houston on October 11, 2018, followed by the
"Room for Hope Palestinian Festival". Rev. Dr. Mitri
Raheb will be in Houston participating in both the
conference and festival. |
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Date: |
September 26, 2018 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
September 26, for a special "Execution Watch" live coverage of
the planned Texas execution of Troy Clark.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. |
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Date: |
September
19, 2018  |
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Guest: |
Diana
Buttu (in
Palestine)
Analyst, former
legal advisor to Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO), who also served as legal
advisor to the PLO in its negotiations with Israel, and a
policy advisor to
Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy
Network.
Diana Buttu is
a lawyer specializing in negotiations, international law,
and international human rights law, based in Ramallah,
Palestine. |
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Topic: |
We will speak
with Diana (in Palestine) about the failed Oslo Accord that
was signed 25 years ago this month between the Palestine
Liberation Organization and Israel, why it failed, the
ongoing Israeli colonization of Palestine, the U.S. stance
towards Palestine and its recent funding cuts to UNRWA, the
Palestinian Authority, Palestinian hospitals in occupied
East Jerusalem and other programs, the closure of the PLO
office in Washington, and the move of the U.S. embassy from
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We will also talk about what options
Palestinians should pursue, and more. |
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Date: |
September
12, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
"Is the U.S.
Ramping up its Military Presence in Syria and Preparing to
Attack Iran for Israel?" by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson
We will air
today the remarks of Col.
Lawrence Wilkerson on the
topic "Is the U.S.
Ramping up its Military Presence in Syria and Preparing to
Attack Iran for Israel?".
He delivered those remarks at
The Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference held on
March 2, 2018 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
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2nd
Segment: Alison Weir
Founder
and Executive Director of If
Americans Knew and
President of the Council
for the National Interest.
She is the author of "Against Our Better Judgment: The
hidden history of how the U.S. was used to create Israel".
Her essays and articles have appeared in a number of books,
magazines, and newspapers. Weir speaks widely throughout the
country. Since early 2001 she has given hundreds of
presentations, including two briefings on Capitol Hill,
speeches at the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, the
National Press Club, and at various universities. She has
spoken at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, numerous
Rotary Clubs, churches, libraries, and other community
venues. In addition, she has been invited to give papers at
international conferences, including lectures at the Asia
Media Summit in Kuala Lumpur for three straight years. A top
level British attendee termed her speech "the most brilliant
of the entire conference." In 2004, Weir was inducted into
honorary membership of Phi Alpha Literary Society. The award
cited her as a: "Courageous journalist-lecturer on behalf of
human rights. The first woman to receive an honorary
membership in Phi Alpha history."
We will speak live with Alison about 2 bills being voted on
today in Congress: (1) The largest aid package in U.S.
history ($38 billion) to Israel, and (2) A bill for a
special envoy who will monitor criticism of Israel
worldwide! |
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Date: |
September 5, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
"Jerusalem:
What Makes For Peace?" Conferen ce
We will speak live with both Rev. Stephen Quill and Rev. Dr.
Duane Larson (both have visited Palestine) about the
upcoming Historic Conference on Jerusalem that will be held
at the University of Houston on October 11, 2018 titled "Jerusalem:
What Makes For Peace?", and the Palestinian Festival that will follow the conference
and will be held at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston.
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The Rev. Stephen
Quill
Pastor
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since 1972 and
has served in the Greater Houston area since 1979. He
previously served Hope Lutheran Church as the Associate
Pastor, and then accepted a call to Peace Lutheran Church in
Cedar Park, Texas, where he helped the new congregation grow
into a strong parish. In 1979, he was called to a 4 year old
congregation – New Hope Lutheran Church in Missouri City,
Texas, and has served that congregation as it lead pastor
for 27 years. In 2008, he began a non-profit ministry called
TRUTH (Travels Revealing: Understanding, Trust, Hope). He
also serves on several boards and committees in the Greater
Houston area. Rev. Quill has led four trips to Palestine
over the last 12 years. He is the Texas representatives for
Bright Stars of Bethlehem that is sponsoring the Jerusalem
Conference.
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The Rev. Dr.
Duane Larson
Senior
Pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston, and
teaches as an adjunct member of the Comparative Cultural
Studies Department of the University of Houston. He
previously served as President and Professor of Systematic
Theology of Wartburg Theological Seminary, and was Associate
Professor of Systematic Theology at the Lutheran Theological
Seminary at Gettysburg. Has published 4 books and dozens of
articles; much activity with the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),
especially on ecumenical and inter-religious matters. The
Rev. Dr. Larson has visited Palestine and is the Houston
voice for promoting the upcoming conference on Jerusalem in
Houston.
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2nd
Segment:
Kristin Foss (in
Palestine)
Norwegian Peace Activist and volunteer with the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who was shot
twice in one week last month (in her abdomen on August 19
and in her ankle on August 24) by the Israeli occupation
soldiers in the Palestinian village of Kafr Qaddum in the
West Bank near the city of Nablus.
We will speak with Kristin about her experience in occupied
Palestine and being shot twice by the Israeli occupation
soldiers in one week, and the work she does in Palestine. |
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Date: |
August 29, 2018  |
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Topic: |
"1918: The
End of the Great War in the Middle East and the Genesis of a
Century of Conflict" by Professor Eugene Rogan
The
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and The
Arab-American Education Foundation Chair in Modern Arab
History at the University of Houston held the Nijad and Zeina Fares
Arab-American Educational Foundation Annual Distinguished
Lecture in Modern Arab Studies on February 1, 2018, at the
University of Houston. The lecture was titled
"1918: The End of the
Great War in the Middle East and the Genesis of a Century of
Conflict", and the
speaker was Professor
Eugene Rogan.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen
to Professor Rogan's lecture on "1918:
The End of the Great War in the Middle East and the Genesis
of a Century of Conflict".
Eugene Rogan (PhD, Harvard University) is Professor of
Modern Middle Eastern History and Director of the Middle
East Centre at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. In
2017, he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy, the
highest academic honor in the United Kingdom. His books
include Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire,
for which he received the Albert Hourani Book Award of the
Middle East Studies Association of North America and the
Fuad Köprülü Prize of the Turkish Studies Association; The
Arabs: A History, which was a bestselling work translated in
ten languages and was named as one of the best books of 2009
by The Economist, The Financial Times, and The Atlantic
Monthly. Most recently, Professor Rogan has published The
Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East which
was selected as an Economist book of the year for 2015 and a
Telegraph best book of the year for 2015. |
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Date: |
August 22, 2018  |
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Topics: |
Arab Voices
Interview with Uri Avnery
A
couple of days ago, on Monday, August 20, 2018, Uri
Avnery passed away in Tel Aviv at the age of 94. Uri
Avnery was an Israeli peace activist, journalist, writer,
author, former member of the Israeli Knesset, founding
member of Gush Shalom (the Israeli peace bloc), and founding
member of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.
Arab Voices had interviewed Uri Avnery a few times over the
years, and today we will air one of the interviews we
conducted with him during one of Israel’s wars on Gaza
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U.S. Military Actions in Syria
Last
year on
August 8, 2017, a coalition of six organizations
(Veterans For Peace, The Nation magazine, RootsAction.org,
Watchdog.net, World Beyond War, Daily Kos) held a news
conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.,
and called on the U.S. to remove all military aircrafts from
the Syrian airspace. The speakers argued that the U.S.
military role in Syria is illegal and immoral and addressed
concerns that “global policing” and intervention in Syria is
an unwinnable military strategy. The speakers included:
John Kiriakou, CIA Whistleblower
Matthew Hoh, Former State Department official
Christie Edwards, Chair of the ASIL Lieber Society on
the Law of Armed Conflict and an advisor to the Center for
Civilians in Conflict on international humanitarian, human
rights, and gender issues
David Swanson, Author and Director of World Beyond
War
Norman Solomon, Co-Founder and Coordinator for
RootsAction.org
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to portions of the news conference
and some of the questions and answers that followed. |
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Date: |
August 15, 2018  |
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Topics: |
1st Segment:
"Challenging the
Anti-Semitism Awareness Act"
We will air
today the remarks of Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, the
Michael R. and Deborah K. Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish
History and an associate professor of history at Wake Forest
University in Winston-Salem, NC, on the topic "Challenging the
Anti-Semitism Awareness Act".
He delivered those remarks at
The Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference held on
March 2, 2018 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
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2nd Segment:
"The Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban"
Making
Contact, an award-winning weekly
magazine/documentary-style public affairs program heard on
140 radio stations in the USA, Canada, South Africa and
Ireland,
produced a new segment titled “The Arrival: Trump’s Travel
and Refugee Ban”:
After
the US Supreme Court's ruling on Trump’s travel ban, we’ll
discuss how the new order impacts people from affected,
Muslim-majority countries. We also talk about what's
different about the new ban and how to fight it. We begin
with the story of a woman who was in flight to the US when
President Trump signed his first travel ban.
Featuring:
• Nisrin Abdelrahman, Stanford PhD Student in
Anthropology
• Zahar Billo, Civil Rights Attorney and Executive
Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San
Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to
“The
Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban” segment. |
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Date: |
August 8, 2018  |
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Guest/
Topics: |
Joe Meadors
 Survivor
of the deliberate 1967 deadly Israeli attack on the USS
Liberty, and kidnapped last week by Israel from the 2018
Gaza Freedom Flotilla!
Joe Meadors was a U.S. Navy Signalman on the
USS Liberty, a
signal intelligence platform ship, in the Eastern
Mediterranean Sea when it was brutally attacked on June 8, 1967
by Israel, despite the fact that Israel knew it was a United
Stated communications ship! The attack by the Israeli
fighter jets and torpedo boats killed 34 U.S. servicemen and
injured 174 others. Joe Meadors survived that deliberate and
deadly attack.
In 2018, Joe Meadors was the U.S. delegate on the
2018 Gaza
Freedom Flotilla and was on board Al-Awda ship
carrying urgently needed medical supplies to Gaza (one of
four 2018 freedom flotilla ships) that sailed to break the
illegal Israeli siege and military blockade on Gaza, when
Israel intercepted the ship in international waters on July
29, 2018 about 40 miles off the coast of Gaza, beat the
captain and threatened to kill him, repeatedly tasered
several crew members and delegates and severely injuring
some! A medical doctor, Dr. Swee Ang, who was also on board
Al-Awda ship was attacked on the head and body and
ended up with two broken ribs! Israel then hijacked Al-Awda
boat and kidnapped everyone on board including Joe Meadors.
Israel illegally detained and jailed Joe Meadors for several
days before deporting him to the United States. He arrived
back to the U.S. last week, on August 1, 2018. Few days
later, on August 3, 2018, Israel also attacked another
Freedom Flotilla boat, Freedom, in international
waters, hijacked it and kidnapped everyone on board!
Today on Arab Voices, we will speak live with Joe Meadors
about his eyewitness accounts and experiences with Freedom
Flotilla and the USS Liberty. |
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Date: |
August 1, 2018  |
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Topics/
Guests: |
1st
Segment:
Ahed & Nariman
Tamimi Remarks
Ahed
Tamimi, the 17-year old Palestinian teenager who was taken
from her house in Nabi Saleh village in the occupied West
Bank in Palestine by the Israeli occupation soldiers in
December 2017, was released from Israeli occupation jail
along with her mother, Nariman Tamimi after spending 8
months inside the jail.
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to portions of what
Ahed and Nariman Tamimi said at a press conference held
after they were released from the Israeli occupation jail.
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2nd
Segment:
Col. Ann Wright with
Feedom Flotilla
 Al
Awda (The Return) boat (part of Freedom Flotilla) that
tried to break illegal Israeli blockade and siege on the
Gaza Strip to deliver much needed medical supplies, was
intercepted while in international waters by the Israeli
occupation forces who also attacked some of the
participants, and was then hijacked and prevented from
reaching Gaza! Many of the 22 participants that were
on-board Al Awda boat are still being held unlawfully
in Israeli occupation jails. Al Awda boat is being
followed by the Swedish-flagged yacht Freedom, which
is also carrying medical supplies along with people from a
number of nations.
Today on Arab Voices, we will speak live with Col. Ann
Wright (currently in Houston) about Freedom Flotilla. Ann
was with the Gaza Flotilla in Sicily in Europe, and just
came back to the U.S. She is with the
Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which has organized a number
of boats to get relief to Palestinians in the
Israeli-controlled Gaza Strip. Wright is a retired U.S. Army
Reserve Colonel, a 29-year veteran of the U.S. Army and Army
Reserves, and one of three State Department officials to
publicly resign in protest of the March 2003 U.S. invasion
of Iraq. |
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Date: |
July 25, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topic: |
Live from
on-board Freedom Flotilla
(in international waters)
  Today,
we will speak live via satellite-phone with
Zohar Chamberlain Regev
and
Charlie Andreasson,
two participants on-board Freedom Flotilla which is now
sailing international waters on its way to challenge and
break the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
Three boats are sailing with boxes of medical supplies: Al Awda (The Return), a large converted fishing vessel; Freedom
to Gaza, a large sailing vessel; and Falestine, a smaller
sailing vessel. The flotilla, which has been organized by
the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition under the
slogan "Just Future For Palestine (JFP) campaign", includes
nearly 40 activists on board.
 |
Summer Fund Drive |
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Date: |
July 18, 2018  |
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Guest/
Topic: |
Live from
Freedom Flotilla (in
Sicily)
 We
continue our weekly live update from Freedom Flotilla (in Europe,
sailing to Gaza soon) and talk about the "Just
Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The
Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the
JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to
Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity
Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza
Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of
Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa,
MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for
Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is
currently visiting
several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal
and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
Today, we will speak live with
David
Heap
with Freedom Flotilla, currently in Palermo, Sicily.
 |
Summer Fund Drive |
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Date: |
July 11, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
Live from
Freedom Flotilla (in
Naples)
  We
continue our weekly live update from Freedom Flotilla, currently
in Europe, and talk about the "Just
Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The
Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the
JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to
Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity
Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza
Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of
Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa,
MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for
Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is
currently visiting
several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal
and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
Today, we will speak live with
Divina
Levrini
and
Dr.
Kristian Svenberg,
on board Freedom Flotilla, currently in Naples, Italy.
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Summer Fund Drive |
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Date: |
July 4, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Live from
Freedom Flotilla (in
Italy)
  We
continue our weekly live update from Freedom Flotilla, currently
in Europe, and talk about the "Just
Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The
Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the
JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to
Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity
Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza
Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of
Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa,
MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for
Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is
currently visiting
several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal
and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
Today, we will speak live with
Karen Devito and
John Turnbull,
on board Freedom Flotilla, currently in the port of
Cagliari, the capital city of the Italian island of
Sardinia.
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2nd Segment:
Alex McDonald
An
Internet marketer and business consultant from Houston,
Texas. He visited the occupied West Bank and Israel in May
2017 with an interfaith peace group. As a Quaker, the
testimonies of Peace, Integrity and Equality have drawn him
even more into the Palestinian issue and the need to open up
discussions on the topic in our communities. As an American,
he is very concerned about the active role his country has
in oppressing the Palestinian people and supporting the
violation of human rights. In June 2018 he was part of the
ground crew for the 2018 Freedom Flotilla for the Norwegian
fishing boat Al Awda (The Return) in La Rochelle, France and
was a crew member for one week in Northern France onboard
the Mairead.
We will speak live with Alex, who just returned to Houston
from Europe, about his experience over the past month with
Freedom Flotilla, and also his experience in Occupied
Palestine. You can read Alex McDonald's recent Op-Ed "Police
in Paris Prevent Two Gaza-Bound Boats from Stopping --
Challenges of Support for 2018 Boats to Gaza"
here.
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3rd Segment:
Arsalan
Safiullah
Staff Attorney at the
Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR-Texas Houston). He earned his undergraduate degree
from McGill University in Montreal and holds a Master of
Biotechnology (M.Biot.) and a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from
Texas A&M University. In his current position, Arsalan
focuses on employment discrimination, civil liberties
issues, hate crimes, and know your rights community
education.
We will speak live with Arsalan about last week's U.S.
Supreme Court's decision to uphold President Trump's Arab
and Muslim Ban. |
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Date: |
June 27, 2018 |
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Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
June 27, for a special "Execution Watch" live coverage of
the planned Texas execution of Danny Bible.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, July 4, 2018. |
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Date: |
June 20, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Live from
Freedom Flotilla (in
Portugal)
 We continue our weekly live updates from Freedom Flotilla, currently
in Europe, and talk about the "Just
Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The
Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the
JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to
Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity
Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza
Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of
Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa,
MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for
Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is
currently visiting
several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal
and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
Today, we will speak live with
Awni
Farhat and
Youssef Sammour,
two Palestinians on board Freedom Flotilla, currently in the
port of Lisbon, Portugal.
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2nd Segment:
Dr. Shireen Al-Adeimi
A
Harvard University graduate who will soon begin a position
as an assistant professor of education at Michigan State
University. Having lived through two civil wars in her
country of birth, Yemen, she has played an active role in
raising awareness about the U.S.-supported, Saudi-led war on
Yemen since 2015. Through her work, she aims to encourage
political action among fellow Americans to bring about an
end to the U.S. intervention in Yemen.
We will speak live with Dr. Al-Adeimi about the catastrophic
and dire situation in Yemen as a result of the U.S.-supported Saudi-led war on Yemen, the refugee crisis this war has
created (today, June 20 is World Refugee Day), and the
recent deadly attack on Yemen’s port city of Al-Hudaydah. |
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Date: |
June 13, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Live from
Freedom Flotilla (in
France)
  We will
continue our weekly live updates from Freedom Flotilla, currently
in Europe, and talk about the "Just
Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". We
will speak with
David
Heap and
Alex
McDonald
(both in France) about the
Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the JFP Flotilla,
which inlcude: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to
Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity
Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza
Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of
Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa,
MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for
Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is
currently visiting
several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal
and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
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2nd Segment:
International Day of Al-Quds
We
will listen to a few of the remarks that were
delivered at the International Day of Al-Quds rally that was
held in front of the Consulate General of Israel in Houston on June
8, 2018. There
were many remarks delivered during the rally, and we will
air today the remarks of Muslim Scholar Syed Farhat Abbas
with the Islamic Education Center in Houston, Dr. Qamber
Jafri, and Izzah Ali.
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3rd Segment:
Dalia Al-Najjar
(in Turkey)
We
will speak with Dalia Al-Najjar, the cousin of
Razan Al-Najjar,
the 21-year-old Palestinian medic who was shot and killed in
Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces on June 1, 2018 while
trying to treat injured Palestinians who were
shot by the Israeli occupation forces as they continued
their Great March of Return protests in Gaza that
started on March 30, 2018 (since that date, Israel shot and
killed more than 130 Palestinians, including children,
women, journalists and medical personnel, and nearly 15,000
were wounded). We will speak with Dalia Al-Najjar about her
cousin Razan Al-Najjar, and the dire situation in Gaza. |
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Date: |
June 6, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st Segment:
Live from
Freedom Flotilla (United
Kingdom)
 We
will speak live with the captain of "Freedom",
Jens Marklund
from Sweden who is currently in the U.K. We will get an
update on the latest with Freedom Flotilla, currently
visiting several European ports on their way to challenge
the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza, and talk
about the "Just
Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The
Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the
JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to
Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity
Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza
Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of
Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa,
MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for
Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia.
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2nd Segment:
Dr. Ramzy Baroud
US-Arab
journalist, media consultant, an author,
internationally-syndicated columnist, Editor of
Palestine Chronicle,
former Managing Editor of London-based Middle East Eye,
former Editor-in-Chief of The Brunei Times, former Deputy
Managing Editor of Al Jazeera online. He taught mass
communication at Australia’s Curtin University of
Technology, Malaysia Campus. Baroud also served as head of
Aljazeera.net English’s Research and Studies department. He
is the author of four books and a contributor to many
others; his latest volume is
The Last Earth, a Palestinian Story
(Pluto Press, London, 2018). His books are translated to
several languages including French, Turkish, Arabic, Korean,
among others. Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from
the University of Exeter (2015) and is a Non-Resident
Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International
Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.
We will speak live with
Dr. Baroud about the ongoing
crisis in occupied Palestine, the murder of Razan Al-Najjar,
a 21-year-old Palestinian medic who was shot and killed in
Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces on June 1, 2018 while
trying to treat and evacuate injured Palestinians who were
also shot by the Israeli occupation forces as they continued
their Great March of Return protests in Gaza that
started on March 30, 2018. Since that date, Israel shot and
killed more than 130 Palestinians, including children,
women, journalists and medical personnel, and injured more
than 13,000! Earlier today, June 6, 2018, Israeli occupation
forces shot and killed 21-year-old Izz Tamimi in the
occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. |
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Date: |
May 30, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Live from
Freedom Flotilla (in Amsterdam)
 We
will speak live with
Robert Naiman
(in France), Policy
Director at
Just Foreign Policy. He wrote the Syria chapter in
The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire.
He is president of the board of Truthout. Naiman has worked
as a policy analyst and researcher at the Center for
Economic and Policy Research and Public Citizen's Global
Trade Watch. He has masters degrees in economics and
mathematics from the University of Illinois and has studied
and worked in the Middle East.
We will speak with Robert who just arrived in Amsterdam on
board the
Freedom Flotilla
ship Al Awda (The Return), together with Ship to Gaza Sweden
vessels Hurriya (Freedom), Falestine (Palestine) and Mairead
(named for Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire who
previously sailed against the blockade) that are visiting
several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal
and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
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2nd Segment:
Rahul Saksena
Staff
attorney with
Palestine Legal. His work focuses on legislative issues,
advocacy for activists whose rights are under attack, public
education, and building Palestine Legal’s network of legal
and other advocates. Prior to joining Palestine Legal, Rahul
was the Legislative Director for a member of the New York
City Council, and also served as Legislative Counsel for the
New York Civil Liberties Union. Rahul holds a JD from the Washington College of Law at
American University, and BA’s in Political Science and
History from the University of Michigan. He is based in
Palestine Legal's New York and Chicago offices and is
admitted to the New York State bar.
We
will speak with Rahul about his first-hand eyewitness
account of what he saw and experienced during his visit to
occupied Palestine earlier this month along with
several human rights defenders, lawyers and social justice
advocates from various movements known as the Justice Delegation.
Before boarding his flight back
to the U.S., Israel confiscated his journal
where he kept notes from his trip. We will
also speak with Rahul about the Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions (BDS) movement,
why 25 states in the U.S. already enacted anti-BDS laws and
12 more are pending and/or have introduced legislation (in some
states, activists successfully defeated anti-BDS
legislation), and the reintroduction of the Anti-Semitism
Awareness Act (ASAA) last week in the U.S. Congress (a
federal bill aimed at censoring Palestine advocacy on
college campuses in violation of the first amendment),
what you can do to stop ASAA bill from passing, and
why protecting the civil and constitutional rights of people
in the U.S. who speak out for Palestinian freedom is very
important. |
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Date: |
May 23, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Nikki Haley's
Speech Disruption at UH; Reactions to Gaza's Massacre & 70
Years of Nakba
Coverage
of the
disruption
of Nikki Haley's (U.S. Ambassador to
the U.N.) speech at the
University of Houston on May 22, 2018 by students in protest
for her stand towards the massacre in Gaza (several groups
at UH had called on the university to cancel Haley's talk
who said at the UN Security Council last week "no country in
this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has"
despite Israel's killing of more than 112 Palestinians and
injuring more than 13,000 in 2 months!!!). We will also
listen to some of the remarks as well as a poem by Tala and
spoken words by Dana delivered at the rally that was held in
Houston on May 15, 2018 to protest Israel's massacre in Gaza
and commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian
Nakba.
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2nd Segment:
Josh
Ruebner
Policy
Director of the
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
He is a former Analyst in Middle East Affairs at
Congressional Research Service, a federal government agency
providing Members of Congress with policy analysis.
He holds a graduate degree in International Affairs from
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies in Washington, DC. Ruebner’s analysis and commentary
on U.S. policy toward the Middle East appear frequently in
media such as NBC, ABC Nightline, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera, USA
Today, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Detroit Free Press,
Huffington Post, Middle East Report, and more. He is the
author of "Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker
Israeli-Palestinian Peace".
We will speak live with Josh about the ongoing Palestinian
Nakba, the ongoing Israeli massacre in Gaza, the PLO’s
referral to the ICC Chief Prosecutor on Israeli crimes,
President’s Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital
of Israel, and more. |
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Date: |
May 16, 2018 |
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|
Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
May 16, for a special "Execution Watch" live coverage of
the planned Texas execution of Juan Castillo.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, May 23, 2018. |
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Date: |
May 9, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Hiba Elroz
We
will speak live with
Hiba Elroz, media chair
with the Lebanese Festival Committee, about the
4th Annual
Houston Lebanese Festival that will be held Saturday through
Sunday, May 12-13 at
Constellation Field, in Sugar Land, Texas, organized and
hosted by the
American Lebanese Cultural
Center (ALCC) in Houston.
The festival will be an amazing cultural experience with new
activities, new designs, and new ways for everyone to have a
wonderful time! You will enjoy the ultimate cultural
immersion and travel to the country of Lebanon.
There will be entertainment, food, different activities,
great festivities, enjoyable atmosphere for both adults and
children, door prizes, music, folkloric dances,
performances, and much more.
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2nd Segment:
Gareth
Porter
Independent
investigative journalist, historian, and policy analyst
specializing in U.S. national security policy. He has
written several books about the potential for peaceful
conflict resolution in Southeast Asia and the Middle East,
including Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the
Iran Nuclear Scare. Porter has reported extensively on
Middle East conflicts including Syria. Porter's analysis and
reporting have appeared in academic journals, news
publications, and periodicals for four decades, and in 2012
he was the winner of the Martha Gellhorn Prize for
Journalism. He recently wrote the piece "The
Latest Act in Israel’s Iran Nuclear Disinformation Campaign"
and just signed the statement "Trump
Urged Not to Pull Out of Iran Nuclear Deal" which
states: "The evidence presented by Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu on April 30 alleging a covert Iranian
nuclear weapons program shows blatant signs of fabrication.
We will speak live with Gareth about President Trump's
decision to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal. |
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Date: |
May 2, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Khalil
AbuSharekh
We
will speak live with Houston Palestine Film Festival's President, Khalil
AbuSharekh, about the 12th annual
Houston Palestine
Film Festival (HPFF). This year, HPFF will
showcase a number of award-winning and internationally
acclaimed feature films, documentaries and shorts that
address a variety of themes and narratives in Palestinian
society. The festival will be held May 5 through May 13 at
the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Rice University Media
Center.
Click here for more details and Program Lineup.
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2nd
Segment:
Col.
Ann Wright
Retired
U.S. Army Colonel and U.S. State Department
official/diplomat, a long-time activist, and an
outspoken critic of the Iraq war. She was one of three State
Department officials who resigned in 2003 in protest over
the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Col. Wright won the State
Department Award for Heroism for her assistance in helping
thousands of refugees escape the civil war in Sierra Leone.
A deeply committed peace and justice activist, Ann has
traveled to Gaza seven times, helped organize the Gaza
Freedom March in 2009, was a passenger on the Challenge 1 in
the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, was an organizer for the
2011 U.S. Boat to Gaza, was a boat leader on the 2015 Gaza
Freedom Flotilla, and was an organizer and boat leader for
the 2016 Women’s Boat to Gaza carrying Humanitarian aid and
construction materials to challenge Israel’s blockade of
Gaza. Ann was on-board the Zaytouna-Oliva boat, that was
hijacked in international waters by the Israeli military on
October 5, 2016 a few miles of the coast of Gaza, and all 13
women on board, including Ann Wright, were kidnapped by
force by the Israeli military and taken to the Israeli port
of Ashdod. In addition, Ann was an organizer for Gaza’s Ark.
We will speak live with Col. Wright about the dire situation
in Gaza as a result of the Israeli ongoing blockade and
strangulation, the
Great March of Return, the efforts to challenge Israel’s occupation
and blockade, and the plans for the 75-day voyage of 4 boats
beginning May 15 in Scandinavia and end in Gaza at the end
of July. As a part of the
Gaza Freedom Flotilla
coalition, the U.S. campaign joins other national campaigns in
Australia, Canada, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway,
South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Turkey to purchase boat(s)
to sail to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza in the
summer of 2018.
** NOTE:
Col. Ann Wright will be in Houston on Thursday, May 3, 2018
to speak more on Gaza's increasingly deteriorating
conditions and hear how a broad coalition of activists,
academics, veterans, and Palestine solidarity organizers
plan to break the siege in this summer's upcoming
Gaza
Freedom Flotilla and to draw attention to the inhumane
conditions Israeli Occupation and blockades imposes on
Palestinians.
Click here for more details. |
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|
Date: |
April 25, 2018 |
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|
Arab Voices was preempted on Wednesday,
April 25, for a special "Execution Watch" live coverage of
the planned Texas execution of Erick Davila.
Our next show will be on Wednesday, May 2, 2018. |
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Date: |
April 18, 2018  |
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|
|
Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Noor Harazeen (in Gaza)
Palestinian
journalist, freelance film producer, and TV correspondent
for TeleSUR and CGTN, based in Gaza city, occupied Palestine. Will speak with Noor about the
horrific situation in the Gaza Strip, the killing of 33
Palestinians (including children and a journalist) and
injury of 4,279 (including 642 children, 243 women, 66
journalists and 44 medical personnel) by the Israeli
occupation forces since March 30, 2018. We will talk about
the Great March of Return, the effect of the Israeli
blockade on the children of Gaza, targeting of journalists
and the Israeli killing of Yasser Mortaja, 30 years old
Palestinian journalist who was a colleague and a close
friend of Noor Harazeen.
While covering the 2014 Israeli war on Gaza, Noor Harazeen
was almost killed when Israel fired a missile at the clearly
marked TV vehicle she was riding in. Moments after she got out
of the TV vehicle, it was targeted by Israel, and her driver
was killed.
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|
2nd
Segment:
Reese Erlich
A
Freelance
journalist who began reporting from Syria in 2002, and has
covered the Middle East for over 30 years. He writes the
syndicated column "Foreign
Correspondent", and has authored several books including
"Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the
World Can Expect", and the best-selling book "Target Iraq:
What the News Media Didn’t Tell You". Erlich has produced
several major radio documentaries and has won numerous
journalism awards.
We will speak with Reese about the crisis in Syria and the
recent bombing of Syria by the United States, Britain, and France
on April 13, 2018. Reese says "The official version of the
U.S. missile attack on Syria is already unraveling. The
supposed chemical weapons factory bombed by the U.S. didn't
leak chemicals. There have been no independent confirmations
that the bombed sites had any connection to chemical
weapons." Robert Fisk, award-winning journalist with
the British Independent, just reported from Douma, Syria
that a doctor he interviewed there told him people died from
a lack of oxygen in underground tunnels, not chemical
weapons. |
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|
Date: |
April 11, 2018  |
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|
|
Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Mustafaa Carroll
We
will speak with Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) about
the stabbing and apparent bias-motivated attempted murder of
a Muslim woman in Houston last week, April 5, 2018, and the
rise of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S.
The 31-year-old victim, who is white and wears an Islamic
head scarf (hijab), says she was driving home early Thursday
morning from her job as a nurse when her vehicle was almost
sideswiped by a red SUV. When the victim pulled over and got
out of her vehicle to check for damage and to collect
herself following that near accident, the attacker made a
U-turn and pulled up behind the victim’s vehicle. He then
allegedly got out of his SUV and began shouting obscenities
and racial and religious slurs such as, “Oh my God, it’s a
raghead,” “It’s an f**king raghead,” “sand n**ger” and
“desert monkey”. The victim tried to get back in her
vehicle, but the passenger side door was locked. At that
point the attacker began waving a knife in the victim’s face
and then hit her on her shoulder and arms.
CAIR-Houston is offering $5,000 reward for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the attacker.
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|
2nd
Segment:
Rami Almeghari (in Gaza)
We
will speak with Rami Almeghari, independent journalist and
commentator in Gaza, occupied Palestine, about the dire
situation in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli
siege and strangulation of nearly two million Palestinians (health situation, economy, unemployment,
poverty, lack of building materials, borders, etc.), and The Great March of Return where
tens of thousands of Palestinians began on March 30, 2018 a major peaceful
protest against the ongoing Israeli atrocities and
strangulation of Gaza and calling for their right of return, only to be faced with a massacre by
the Israeli occupation forces. Since March 30, 2018, at
least 30 Palestinian civilians (including children and a journalist)
were shot and killed and more than 3,000 were wounded! A
new video that went viral on social media, shows Israeli
soldiers cheering after shooting unarmed
Palestinian youth in Gaza. |
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Date: |
April 4, 2018  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Dr. Riyad Mansour's Remarks at
the UN
Ambassador
and Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations,
and the non-resident Ambassador of the State of Palestine to
Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. He joined the
Permanent Observer Mission of the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) to the UN, New York, in 1983 as Deputy
Permanent Observer, and has since represented Palestine in
several committees and bodies of the UN. Dr. Mansour has
published several studies and articles about the Palestinian
community in the US, lectured in several
American universities, and has participated in numerous
international conferences, symposia, seminars and panel
debates as a representative of Palestine. He is also a
member of senior officials committees of the State of
Palestine and the PLO.
We will listen today to Ambassador Mansour's remarks
delivered at the United Nations Security Council on March
30, 2018 in response to Israel's massacre in Gaza where 17
Palestinian civilians were shot and killed and more than
1400 others were wounded by the Israeli occupation forces!
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2nd
Segment:
Poems
from Rafeef Ziadah & Remi Kanazi
The
month of April is National Poetry Month, and today on the
show we will listen to a few poems on Gaza and Palestine by
Rafeef Ziadah, Palestinian spoken word artist and human
rights activist based in London, UK. Her performance of
poems like ‘We Teach Life, Sir’ and ‘Shades of Anger’ went
viral within days of its release. Her live readings offer a
moving blend of poetry and music. Since releasing her first
album, Rafeef has headlined prestigious performance venues
across several countries with powerful readings on war,
exile, gender and racism. We will also listen to poems from
Remi Kanazi, a poet, writer, and organizer based in New York
City, and author of the collection of poetry Before the Next
Bomb Drops: Rising Up from Brooklyn to Palestine. He is also
the author of Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and
Palestine and the editor of Poets For Palestine.
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3rd
Segment:
"I Have a Dream"
by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today,
April 4, 2018, marks the 50th anniversary of the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the
greatest civil rights leaders, ever!
In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we will air today
on Arab Voices his most famous and historic speech “I have a
Dream” calling for racial equality. He delivered that speech
on August 28, 1963 during the historic march on Washington,
where hundreds of thousands of people marched for civil and
economic rights. It was one of the largest demonstrations
for human rights in United States' history. |
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Date: |
March 28, 2018  |
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Topic: |
"Digital Humanities of the Underground: The Palestinian
Revolution Website"
by Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti
The
Department of History and the Arab-American Educational
Foundation Chair in Arab Studies at Rice University hosted
Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti on October 17, 2017, where he
presented his "Digital Humanities of the Underground: The
Palestinian Revolution Website" project. Abdel Razzaq
Takriti is Associate Professor and Arab-American Educational
Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of
Houston. He is the author of the award-winning book
Monsoon Revolution: Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in
Oman, 1965-1976 (Oxford University Press, 2013) and
co-author and co-curator of The Palestinian Revolution
website
learnpalestine.politics.ox.ac.uk (2017).
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Dr. Abdel Razzaq
Takriti's presentation on the "Digital Humanities of the
Underground: The Palestinian Revolution Website". |
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Date: |
March 21, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topic: |
8th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival
Live
conversation with
Houda Jarrah,
board member with the
Palestinian
American Cultural Center (PACC-Houston) and volunteer on
the festival committee team, and
Mona Fareed,
board member with the Palestinian American Cultural Center
and chair of the festival committee team about the
8th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival scheduled to be held March
24-25 at Jones Plaza in Downtown Houston.
This year's festival is being held under the theme "We Are
Jerusalem, We Are Palestine". It will include folkloric and
contemporary music and dance, Palestinians culture and
cuisine, traditional fashion show and wedding, grand bazaar,
and kids fun zone. The festival will include two nights of
performances by international singer Maher Al-Attili and
Wessam Aljundi (Abu Batata), as well as Salem Omran, Aladeen
Alhayek, DJ Ashraf, and Houston's favorite - Jabour!
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Spring Fund Drive |
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Date: |
March 14, 2018  |
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Guest/
Topic: |
Melvin
Goodman
Director
of the National Security Project at the Center for
International Policy in Washington, DC, and a
professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He was
an analyst at the CIA for 24 years; a former analyst at the
State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research; and
author of several books on international security, including
"National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism"
and "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the
CIA". His latest book is "Whistleblower at the CIA".
Goodman helped draft the report that described Israel’s
attack against Egypt on the morning of June 5, 1967.Last
year, he
published the piece
The Six Day War and Israeli Lies: What I Saw at the CIA.
Goodman has written numerous articles and op-eds over the
years, appeared on various media outlets, and has lectured
all over the country. He is also the national security
columnist for counterpunch.org.
Note that we are offering two of Melvin's books during the
show today (see below).
We will speak live with Melvin about Trump's firing of
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and the nomination of CIA
Director Mike Pompeo (known for his opposition to the Iran
deal and his bias against Islam with Islamophobic views and
association with an anti-Muslim hate group) to replace
Tillerson, and Gina Haspel, CIA Deputy Director (known for
her leading role in torture of detainees) as a replacement
for Pompeo.
KPFT continues
its Spring
Fund Drive, and Arab Voices Needs Your Support
to raise $1,500. We are offering the following "Thank-You" Gifts
during this drive:
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"National Insecurity: The
Cost of American Militarism" book by Melvin
Goodman ($100)
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"Whistleblower at the CIA:
An Insider’s Account of the Politics of Intelligence" book by Melvin Goodman ($100)
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Both Books by Melvin
Goodman ($150)
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"Ralph
Nader: Empowering People in the Trump Era" DVD $100
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"All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit
of I.F. Stone" DVD $100
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"The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public
Relations War in The United States" DVD $120
Please call 713-526-5738 between 6 pm and 7 pm central
time on Wednesday and support your commercial-free community radio
station. You can also send email to
info@ArabVoices.net
with your name and the amount you'd like to pledge.
Thank
you.
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Spring Fund Drive |
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Date: |
March 7, 2018  |
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KPFT continues
its Spring
Fund Drive, and Arab Voices Needs Your Support
to raise $1,500. We are offering the following "Thank-You" Gifts
during this drive:
-
"Ralph
Nader: Empowering People in the Trump Era" DVD $100
-
"All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit
of I.F. Stone" DVD $100
-
"The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public
Relations War in The United States" DVD $120
Please call 713-526-5738 between 6 pm and 7 pm central
time on Wednesday and support your commercial-free community radio
station. You can also send email to
info@ArabVoices.net
with your name and the amount you'd like to pledge.
Thank
you.
 |
Spring Fund Drive |
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Date: |
February 28, 2018  |
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Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Khanh Pham, JD
Staff
Attorney with
Boat People SOS-Houston (BPSOS), a non-profit
social and legal services provider whose purpose is to
empower, organize, and equip immigrant communities in their
pursuit of liberty and dignity. It provides education,
information, and direct assistance to immigrant and refugee
families on potential health and legal issues prevalent in
the immigrant communities.
We will speak with attorney Pham about the various services
provided by Boat People SOS-Houston (BPSOS) to the
communities, including the Arab American community, where
they have staff on board, Rhoda Jazairy, that can speak and
translate to Arabic-speaking members of the community.
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2nd
Segment:
ACC's Annual Gala (Part 2 of 2)
We will
continue to air the remaining remarks delivered at the
Arab American
Cultural and Community Center's (ACC) Annual Unity and
Friendship Gala held on December 8, 2017, where they
highlighted the Culture and People of Syria. We will
listen today to the keynote address delivered by
Fares Ksebati,
Co-Founder and CEO of MySwimPro and the son of Syrian
immigrants, and also listen to the remarks of the Gala
Honorees
Said Fattouh,
recipient of the 2017 ACC Outstanding Arab Media Award, and
Amer Al-Nahhas,
who received (on behalf of the
Syrian American Club)
the 2017 ACC Outstanding Refugees Service Award, as well as
the announcement about the
ACC Young Writers Award
Contest winners.
Last week (archived online at
www.ArabVoices.net), we aired the remarks of Mrs. Hadia Mawlawi,
Gala Co-Chair, Dr. Faiza Zalila,
ACC President, and Dr. Aziz Shaibani, recipient of the 2017
ACC Outstanding Community Service Award. |
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Date: |
February 21, 2018  |
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Topic: |
ACC's Annual Unity & Friendship Gala (Part 1 of 2)
The
Arab American Cultural and Community Center (ACC) in Houston
held its Annual Unity and Friendship Gala on December 8,
2017, under the theme "Elevating Humanity", and it
highlighted the Culture and People of Syria. The Gala
Chairs were Mrs. Hadia Mawlawi and Mrs. Mariam Haddad. The
Mistress of Ceremonies was Gina Gaston, reporter and
co-anchor at KTRK-TV ABC13 News in Houston.
The ACC honorees were Dr. Aziz Shaibani (2017 ACC
Outstanding Community Service Award), Mr. Said Fattouh
(2017 ACC Outstanding Arab Media Award), and The Syrian
American Club (2017 ACC Outstanding Refugees Service Award).
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of the remarks
made at the Gala, including the remarks of
Mrs. Hadia Mawlawi,
Gala Co-Chair,
Dr. Faiza Zalila,
ACC President, and
Dr. Aziz Shaibani,
recipient of the 2017 ACC Outstanding Community Service
Award (introduced by Dr. Ussama Makdissi and Dr. Michael
Newmark).
Next week, we will air the keynote address by Fares Ksebati,
and the remarks of Said Fattouh and Amer Al-Nahhas, as well
as the ACC Young Writers Award Contest winners. |
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Date: |
February 14, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Maha Freij
Deputy
Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer at ACCESS (Arab
Community Center for Economic and Social Services), and a
leading visionary in the Arab American community with regard
to philanthropy and building strong institutions to
strengthen the voice of the community in American civil
society. Under her leadership, the Center for Arab American
Philanthropy (CAAP), a national institution of ACCESS, has
established itself as the only national Arab American
community foundation in the U.S., connecting philanthropists
across the country and helping them to make a greater
impact. Maha is the recipient of numerous awards and
distinctions, including the American Task Force for
Palestine’s 2011 Distinguished Service in Philanthropy
Award; the Arab American Association of New York’s 2010
Community Service Award; the Arab American Heritage
Council’s 2010 Community Leader of the Year Award;
Alternatives for Girls’ 2005 Role Model Award; Crain's
Detroit Business, Best Managed Non-Profit Organization,
2000; and New Detroit, Inc.’s 1996 Richard Fisher Fiscal
Integrity Award.
We will speak with Maha about ACCESS, CAAP, and the upcoming
Threads of Giving Gala that will be held in Houston on
March 16, 2018, honoring businessman and innovator Farouk Shami with the first ever Outstanding Arab American
Philanthropist Award, recognizing his charitable efforts
both at home and internationally.
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2nd
Segment: Shireen Al-Adeimi
A
doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of
Education, where she has been conducting research on
improving students’ writing outcomes through whole-class,
dialogic discussion. Shireen was born and raised in Yemen,
and has been working on bringing attention to the crisis
there. She recently published an article titled "Only
Americans Can Stop America’s War on Yemen," which
states: "Yemen continues to suffer in silence as the world
turns away from its ongoing misery."
We will speak with Shireen about the crisis in Yemen, the
dire situation there as a result of the Saudi-led war on
Yemen that devastated the country, the U.S. involvement, and
what it takes to stop the war. |
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Date: |
February 7, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Mustafa Tameez
Founder and Managing Director of
Outreach Strategists, a bipartisan public affairs firm. His
firm serves clients and projects ranging in size and scope
from small local interests to national governments. He is
working in conjunction with the Alliance for Compassion and
Tolerance to spread awareness about the
ACT: NOW! Hotline to
the community. Mustafa Tameez’s long career in communications and public affairs
has focused on helping clients overcome challenges at home
and abroad.
We will speak with Mustafa Tameez about the newly
established
ACT: NOW! Hotline (832-680-0108), a service of the Alliance for
Compassion & Tolerance in partnership with Crisis
Intervention. It provides emotional support, crisis
intervention, suicide prevention services, and is sensitive
to any cultural issues of importance. We will talk about cultural stigmas against
mental illness/loneliness/depression, issues facing young
adults from our community today, signs parents should
look for, the kinds of actions parents/community leaders
should take, and the kinds of actions young people should
take.
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2nd
Segment: George
Joseph
Criminal
justice, immigration, and national security reporter. His
work has appeared in many outlets including Foreign Policy,
The Intercept, The Guardian, NPR, The Atlantic, The Nation,
ProPublica, The Verge, Slate, and CityLab. His area of focus
is on surveillance, law enforcement, the use of “big data”
in criminal justice systems, and how data is interpreted by
law enforcement. George has just published an
EXCLUSIVE
report at Foreign Policy after he obtained a newly leaked
internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) draft report
calling for "long-term" and continuous monitoring of
"at-risk" immigrants, focused exclusively on young, Sunni
Muslim men.
We will speak with George about the newly leaked
internal DHS report he obtained, and his exclusive report on
it, titled "Draft DHS Report Called for Long-Term
Surveillance of Sunni Muslim Immigrants". |
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Date: |
January 31, 2018  |
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Guest: |
Ariel Gold
National
co-director of
CODEPINK, who also manages the organization’s campaigns
for Palestinian rights. She is a Jewish-American activist
who visited occupied Palestine several times and stayed for
months in Palestinian homes to experience first-hand what
life is like under military occupation. Her last visit was a
few months ago where she met Ahed Tamimi and her family in
Nabi Saleh. During her last visit to occupied Palestine, she
was attacked by an Israeli colonizer. Ariel’s colleagues and
co-founders of CODEPINK, Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans,
were detained on Saturday, January 27, 2018 in the occupied
West Bank city of Hebron along with Palestinian human rights
defender Issa Amro and CODEPINK activist Tighe Barry.
Benjamin, Evans and Barry traveled to the West Bank to join
with Palestinian activists in their struggle to end Israel’s
systems of apartheid and occupation. They entered the
country despite the recent announcement by the Israeli
government "Israel's BDS Black List" that the leaders of
CODEPINK, along with 19 other organizations worldwide, are
banned from entry into Israel because of their campaigns for
Palestinian freedom and equality. Ariel has also organized
several US speaking tours for Palestinian activists, Iyad
Burnat, Bassem Tamimi, and Issa Amro.
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Topic: |
We will speak
live with Ariel about her experience in occupied Palestine
and what she is hearing from CODEPINK's activists currently
there, the
efforts and actions underway nationally and internationally
to
free Ahed Tamimi and all Palestinian political prisoners,
especially today, January 31, 2018, on
Ahed's 17th birthday, Jerusalem, and more. |
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Date: |
January 24, 2018  |
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Topic: |
“Sectarianism and
Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World” by Dr. Aziz Al-Azmeh
The
Arab-American Educational Foundation Chairs at both Rice
University and the University of Houston hosted and
co-organized the "Arab
Traditions of Anti-Sectarianism Conference", held December
1-2, 2017 at Rice University and the University of Houston.
The keynote address at the conference was delivered on
December 1, 2017, at Rice University on the topic "Sectarianism and
Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World" by Dr. Aziz Al-Azmeh,
University
Professor in the Department of History and Director of the
Center for Religious Studies at the Central European
University in Budapest, Hungary.
Today, on Arab Voices, we will listen to Dr.
Al-Azmeh's keynote address on
“Sectarianism and
Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World”. |
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Date: |
January 17, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Sana Shahid
Houston
activist,
and one of the organizing leaders and Outreach Specialist
for the 2018 Houston Women's March (last year, nearly 22,000
attended the women's march in Houston). She is also the
Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the Southwest
Chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby.
We will speak with Sana about the upcoming
2018 Houston Women's March, scheduled for Saturday,
January 20, 2018.
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2nd
Segment: "Living
Our Faith: Defending Freedom"
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations Texas (Houston
Chapter) held its Annual Banquet on November 12, 2017, in Houston under the theme "Living
Our Faith: Defending Freedom". Several local community members, faith
leaders, and elected officials attended the event that
featured an awards ceremony recognizing several individuals.
It was a celebration of CAIR-Houston's achievements and it
also highlighted how
to work together to protect civil rights and share a
positive message about Islam and Muslims.
There were several remarks at the event, and today we
will listen to some of them, including those of
Dr. Tarek Hussein,
CAIR Houston President;
Mike Floyd,
elected member of the Pearland ISD Board of Trustees, one of
the youngest elected officials in the United States, and
recipient of the 2017 CAIR-Houston Political Activism Award;
and
Mustafaa Carroll,
Executive Director of
CAIR-Houston, and
recipient of the 2017 CAIR National Leadership Award. |
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Date: |
January 10, 2018  |
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Guests/
Topics: |
1st
Segment:
Bassem Tamimi
(Ahed's Father, in Nabi Saleh, occupied Palestine)
A
long-time Palestinian activist and head of the Popular
Committee in Nabi Saleh. He is the father of Ahed Tamimi,
the 16-year-old Palestinian girl who was taken from her
house three weeks ago in the middle of the night by the
Israeli occupation army and has been placed in Israeli
occupation jail since then. Bassem's wife, Nariman, has also
been arrested and placed in jail. Bassem Tamimi was arrested
himself at least a dozen times by the Israeli occupation
forces and spent several years in Israeli jails. Amnesty
International designated him "a prisoner of conscience", and
the European Union described him as a "human rights
defender".
I had met Bassem Tamimi in person in 2015, and today he will
join us via phone from Nabi Saleh, occupied Palestine
to talk about the village of Nabi Saleh and the struggle of
its residents and the Tamimi family against the Israeli
occupation, the jailing of Bassem's daughter, Ahed and his
wife, Nariman, and more.
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2nd
Segment:
Mohammed Nabulsi
Palestinian-American
attorney and community organizer. He is currently the
Project Development Coordinator for the Palestinian Youth
Movement. He also serves on the Steering Committee of the
National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP)
organization, one of 20 organizations placed on a "BDS
Blacklist" published by Israel on January 7, 2018, barring
its members from entering Israel because of their support
for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Mohammed
Nabulsi was one of the main organizers of the recent NSJP
conference held in Houston and has since been attacked by
Zionist hate groups for his role in organizing the
conference.
We will speak with Mohammed about SJP, the Israeli
occupation and its decision to blacklist 20 organizations,
including NSJP. We will also talk about the U.S. decision to
recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and more. |
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Date: |
January 3, 2018  |
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Topic: |
"Black November: The
Role of Partition in Palestine's History and Destiny" by
Ilan Pappé
Students
for Justice in Palestine at the University of Houston
co-hosted with the Palestinian American Cultural Center
Professor Ilan Pappé on November 30, 2017, who presented on
the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. The title of his
lecture was "Black November: The Role of Partition in
Palestine's History and Destiny."
Today, on Arab Voices, we will listen to Professor Ilan
Pappé's lecture.
Professor Pappé is the author of several books, most notably
"The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" and most recently "The
Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied
Territories." Presently he is the Director of the European
Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter.
Professor Pappé obtained his BA degree from the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem in 1979 and the D. Phil from the
University of Oxford in 1984. He founded and directed the
Academic Institute for Peace in Givat Haviva, Israel between
1992 to 2000 and was the Chair of the Emil Tuma Institute
for Palestine Studies in Haifa between 2000 and 2006.
Professor Pappé was a senior lecturer in the department of
Middle Eastern History and the Department of Political
Science at Haifa University between 1984 and 2006. He was
appointed as chair of the Department of History at Cornwall
Campus, 2007-2009 and became a fellow of the IAIS in 2010.
His research focuses on the modern Middle East and in
particular the history of Israel and Palestine. He has also
written on multiculturalism, Critical Discourse Analysis and
on Power and Knowledge in general. |
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Date: |
December 27, 2017  |
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Topic: |
"Jerusalem:
Communities Leading Change" by Fayrouz Sharqawi
The Palestine Center in
Washington, D.C. held an event titled "Jerusalem:
Communities Leading Change" on November 7,
2017. The guest speaker was Fayrouz Sharqawi, Advocacy
Director at
Grassroots Jerusalem. In her talk,
Fayrouz explains the specific and unique political reality
that Palestinians face in the city of Jerusalem. She discusses the recent movement for Al Aqsa and the
necessity of organizations like Grassroots Jerusalem
to build a cohesive political platform through which
Jerusalemites can voice their demands and bring attention to
the indigenous and independent Palestinian economy outside
of the international aid and NGO system.
Today, on Arab Voices, we will listen to that talk and
some of the questions and answers that followed.
Fayrouz Sharqawi is the Advocacy Director at Grassroots
Jerusalem and has a broad and experienced understanding
of development and resistance under occupation. Ms.
Sharqawi’s tours of the city focus not only on the political
reality, but also on the potential that lies in the
Palestinian economy in Jerusalem, demonstrating the unity of
communities across divides, and attempting to cultivate
direct support and solidarity to Palestinian initiatives in
Jerusalem. |
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Date: |
December 20, 2017  |
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Topic: |
1st
Segment:
Issa Amro
(in Hebron, occupied Palestine)
Palestinian
activist and human
rights defender based in
Hebron, occupied Palestine. He is the coordinator and
co-founder of the grassroots group
Youth Against Settlements. Issa won the
2009 One World Media award for coordinating the B’Tselem
camera distribution project, and in 2010, he was
declared "human rights defender of the year in Palestine" by
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights. In 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council
expressed concern for his well-being and safety due to
numerous accounts of harassment from Israeli soldiers and
settlers and a series of arbitrary arrests. He
has spoken at the UN Human Rights Council regular session at
three different occasions. Issa was arrested numerous times
by the Israeli occupation army, and was
indicted by the Israeli military court with 18 charges
against him. In May 2017, Bernie Sanders along with 3 | |