Radio Intifada by SWANA (South and West Asia and North Africa) Region Radio

This show is dedicated to the people of Afghanistan & hosted by SWANA collective members. For the past several days and weeks, the people and country of Afghanistan have been subjected to the probably inevitable chaos occasioned by the US and NATO forces’ withdrawal from the nation they have occupied for twenty years and,perhaps more unexpectedly than the chaos that has accompanied the withdra...

Collective members Nyma Ardalan and Hamoud Salhi discuss the challenges faced by Afghanistan's NGOs in light of recent US pullout and what conditions are like for Afghan and foreigners working there. Our guests give us a brief background of the type of work they do in the area of human rights, peacebuilding, social justice, in particular around women’s rights and empowerment for lea...

On the one-year anniversary of the Beirut port explosion, SWANA collective members speak with regional analyst Yeghia Tashjian and social and political activist Rana Khoury . Regular listeners may remember that Yeghia Tashjian joined us a year ago to discuss the immediate aftermath of the Bierut port explosion. Today, he shares with us the international aid response, the role of corruption and the...

We hosts a roundtable on Timothy Brennan’s new biography of Edward Said, the great Palestinian intellectual, scholar and activist. Brennan’s biography, Places of Mind: A Life of Edward Said is, as the title suggests, not only a work that recounts Said’s intellectual development as one of the major theorists and cultural critics of the twentieth century, whose book Orientalism , a sustained critiqu...

In this show, SWANA collective members examine the result of the recent elections in Iran and Algeria. Both of these elections are relevant to our region and the international community at large. For Algeria, the elections have impacts on the future of the country and Northern Africa as Algerian leaders try to meet the people's expectations and the constraint of change. For Iran, much has been...

On this show, SWANA collective members speak with Dr. Yen Le Espiritu and Dr. Lila Sharif from the Critical Refugee Studies Collective to discuss a conceptual reframing of who refugees are and the condition of “refugeehood.” June 20, is what the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, refers to as World Refugee Day. According to the agency , one percent of the world’s population is displaced and of those di...

In this episode, SWANA collective members review elections in Algeria and Iran. The Algerian elections faced the issue of low turnout. We look at the causes for this and what the opposition groups have stated. Are they correct? And what is the possibility of change in this process? At this point, it seems Algeria is set to reproduce the status quo. In looking at Iran, we cover the presidential ele...

During our show this week, KPFK is continuing an urgent fund drive in order to survive what have been immensely challenging times for the station financially. We know that our listeners have also faced serious economic as well as other challenges not only during the COVID pandemic, but also in the wake of ongoing capitalist crises and restructuring and ever-growing inequity in our society. But the...

In this podcast, SWANA Collective members talk to Palestinian rights activist, feminist scholar and spoken word artist, Dr. Rafeef Ziadah , about the history and principles of the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions that aims to mobilize global civil society to bring an end to Israel’s settler colonization of Palestine and secure peace with justice for all. Further information about the...

We talk to Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian about the unfolding events in her home city of colonized Jerusalem & across Palestine. Dr. Kevorkian is Lawrence D Biele Chair in Law in the Institute of Criminology of the Faculty of Law & a professor in the School of Social Work & Social Welfare at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem & Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London....

In this regional news update, we cover Afghanistan, Armenia, Palestine, Tunisia and Turkey. U.S. troops are finally being removed from Afghanistan after almost twenty years of war that did not achieve any of its stated objectives; Afghanistan is worse off, and the Taliban are still strong. The U.S. President Joe Biden recognized the Armenian genocide, which is a step in the right direction. But wh...

In this episode, SWANA collective members speak with Loay Elbasyouni about the conditions for Palestinian science under occupation and blockade. Loay Elbasyouni is a Palestinian electrical engineer who grew up in Gaza and finished his post-secondary education from Beit Hannoun School. His remarkable journey “ From Gaza to Mars ” and his achievements have been featured on multiple international med...

In this episode, we think about what it means to commemorate genocide and mass atrocity with our guests, Bared Maronian, Executive Producer at Armenoid Productions and director of Women of 1915 , and Dr. Marie Berry, political sociologist and author of War, Women, and Power: From Violence to Mobilization in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina . April 24th is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, and April...

The SWANA collective hosts Dr. Aisha Jumaan. Our incredible guests help us understand the humanitarian crisis in Yemen that began in 2015, and they urge us to amplify calls for President Biden to end the Saudi-led blockade in Yemen by sharing their calls to action and calling your representatives.  Iman Saleh is the general coordinator of the Yemeni Liberation Movement, a volunteer-led organizatio...

On this episode, we host Qadri Ismail and Ambika Satkunanathan. On the anniversary of the Easter Sunday bombings that occurred nearly two years ago in Sri Lanka, we discuss the impact of the Rajapaksa presidency, resistance and protest movements by Tamil and Muslim communities, and the recent UN resolution adopted with regards to human rights violations in the country. Our guests offer important c...

In this episode, collective members offer a brief overview of topics and issues in the SWANA region press and an in-depth look at the Saudi Initiative in Yemen.  Afghanistan: May 1st is a deadline the US has set for its full withdrawal from Afghanistan under an agreement former President Donald Trump signed last year. That time is here. But it seems the US is taking its time, discussing what Presi...

SWANA collective members speak with novelist and activist susan abulhawa about the first North American Palestinian literature festival, Palestine Writes. abulhawa was the co-chair of the Palestine Writes organizing committee. Held over five days in December 2020, the Palestine Writes Literature Festival offered virtual readings, talks, and performances celebrating Palestinian literature. Listener...

Join SWANA collective members as they focus today on Libya and the recent move led by the United Nations  to bring an end to war that has been disastrous for the Libyan people and the region. The UN is leading an initiative to reach a political solution. Critics have noted that this is a temporary arrangement set to fail because it is no different from past initiatives and it does not address the...

This special one-hour show is a tribute to anarchist, anthropologist, and activist, David Graeber, hosted by SWANA collective members joined by journalist, author and activist, Debbie Bookchin, Murray Bookchin’s daughter, for a round-table discussion with David Graeber’s partner, author and activist Nika Dubrovsky, on David’s work and commitment to the people of Rojava, the Rojavan revolution and...

SWANA collective hosts our guest Mihran Toumajan. We discuss the meaning and outcomes of the November 10th Armenia - Azerbaijan armistice, specifically in relation to the role Russian President Vladimir Putin has played in brokering peace and cease fires. We also explore Russina military presence in the Caucasus region, their military aspirations and trade relationships of the region’s states with...

Join SWANA collective members for their coverage on Syria and the Western Sahara. They discuss Syrian media reports that Israel launched several attacks on south Damascus. This is the first time that the Israelis have done this. Reports also suggest that these attacks are approved by the US in its attempt to weaken Iranian military capabilities. Additionally, President Trump recognized Morocco&#39...

Join SWANA Collective Members for  a recap of last year's stories from the region. We consider how the new year and new administration may bring changes for better or  worse--or not. Will US policy, already decades in the making,  significantly transform under Biden, or merely continue the Obama era's  fine rhetoric and ongoing war?

SWANA Region Radio brings you a different kind of  news from Bethlehem than you might be accustomed to in this season of  commercialized Christian celebration. We have a special one-hour conversation with Palestinian artist and filmmaker  Emily Jacir. We discuss her own work, the cultural vitality of   Palestine, and also the project that she has been working on to restore  the family home in Beth...

We discuss emergency humanitarian aid with Adrineh Gregorian from Sose’s  Women NGO in the Artsakh/Armenia border city of Goris, which the  epicenter of the refugee crisis. Thousands of people fled Artsakh with  only the clothes on their backs. Sose's Women team on the ground  immediately began organizing and housing displaced women, elderly,  people with disabilities, pregnant women, and chil...

After the so-called Thanksgiving holiday, which celebrates the nineteenth-century myth of Native American generosity towards the Pilgrim settlers in the 17th-century, and is immediately followed by an orgy of consumerism on the aptly named Black Friday, we are hosting a conversation about the meaning and political force of the notion of Indigeneity in the United States and the SWANA Region that we...