Voices of the Middle East and North Africa

After months of street protests, people in Sudan finally got rid of the country’s long time dictator Omar Al- Bashir, but the celebration soon turned into anger when they realized one military rule is replaced by another- As one protester put it- we did not protest to replace one thief with another So what is next for Sudan? And what in store for the movement for democracy and social justice there...

This week, we get an update on the political developments in Algeria after the official resignation of the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. We speak again with Dr Thomas Serres of UC Santa Cruz. Later in the program We hear from the Syrian illustrator Dima Nachawi. We talk about the art scene, especially in exile, and the importance of creative work in preserving a nation’s collective memory.

Algeria has been in happy turmoil for the past seven weeks, with millions of people in the streets reclaiming their rights to genuine representation from a tired and corrupt old regime. President for 20 years, Abdelaziz Bouteflika has not only accepted to peacefully resign, but he has even apologized to the Algerian people. To get a better sense of the dramatic political changes that are taking pl...

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

This week, we speak with Eli Clifton, contributor editor of lobelia, about the recent controversies surrounding Representative Ilhan Omar, who has been questioning the US’s unconditional support for Israel as well as the influence of AIPAC, the powerful lobby that is instrumental in shaping US foreign policy in the Middle East. Later in the program, we’ll hear from 5 Yemeni women activists who spe...

On March 29th The Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State will bring together academics, researchers, artists, and filmmakers from seven countries, for a 2-day conference titled "Forty Years & More: International Conference on Iranian Diaspora Studies" The conference will mark the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution by understanding the ways that Iranians as exiles,...

This week, we speak with Ahmad Abu Ertema, a Gaza based journalist and author, and one of the organizers of the Gaza’s Great March of Return, as well as historian Jehad Abu Salim who is also staff member of the American Friends Service Committee about the Great Mach, The impacts of Israel's decade-long blockade of the Gaza strip. Later in the program, Dr. Persis Karim, the director of the Center f...

From poster child for colonial struggles in the nineteen fifties and sixties, Algeria has transitioned to a country that is still struggling to perfect its own democratic system fifty years later, trying to attain the long-promised emancipation that so many had died for. Today, the streets of Algiers and other major cities are filled with passionate and enthusiastic crowds, men and women, made up...

This week, we revisit the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean region specifically in Greece, to see where things stand, and the similarities with the refugee and migrant crisis at the US southern border. We speak with Pan Zanetakis, a human rights worker with the Greek organization HumanRights360, and Chicago based Attorney Leena Odeh who spent most of last year working with asylum seekers in Gree...

This week , we speak with exiled Egyptian socialist activist Hossam El-Hamalawy about the legacy of the Arab Spring in his country - and in the middle east and north Africa region. Despite the bleak economic situation and unspeakably ferocious political repression in Egypt, El- Hamalawy explains why he is still hopeful that - in the long term - the revolution will survive and overcome.

This week, we unpack the story of the young Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Al Qnun. Rahaf who decided to seek asylum abroad, with writer and analyst Hana Al-Khamri(@hanaalkhamri ). Later in the program, researcher and former student activist Mohammad PourAbdollah talks to us about the most recent labor protests at the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane factory in Iran.

Nearly three decades after Omar Al Bashir came to power, the Sudanese regime is facing a formidable challenge posed by a fresh wave of unrest. Popular uprisings are not new to Sudan. This most recent wave of protest over a month ago in the northeastern city of Atbara. Locals took to the streets over a government decision to triple the price of bread, protests swiftly escalated into anti-government...

Nearly three decades after Omar Al Bashir came to power, the Sudanese regime is facing a formidable challenge posed by a fresh wave of unrest, which started in the northeastern city of Atbara on December 19. Protests which first erupted over a government decision to triple the price of bread have swiftly escalated into anti-government rallies, marches and work stoppages that have rocked several ci...

This week, we speak with award-winning Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki about her academy award-nominated film Capernaum, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes film festival in 2018 Later in the program, Issa Golitzen Farajaje joins us to talk about his collaboration with Aswat, the Bay Area's Premier Arab Music Ensemble, to research and perform a concert of Sufi music from the Arab world.

After 4 years of a devastating war in Yemen, this week we delve into the complexities of living with war, through the eyes of a group of Yemeni women. We will hear from them talking about their activism and what roles they took on in their communities and families since the beginning of the war in 2015 But first we discuss the pro-Israel backlash against Palestine activism on US campuses. The back...

This week, we speak with Paris-based Iranian historian Nasser Mohajer about the mass execution of thousands of political prisoners in Iran in the summer of 1988 Later in the program, award-winning Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki will talk to us about her new film Capernaum, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes film festival this year.

VOMENA Nov 23, 2018 by VOMENA Team at KPFA

The images of starving Yemeni children have become the face of the brutal Saudi-led, US supported war against Yemen We speak with Hussein Mohsen co-founder of Yemen Relief Project about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and what’s being done to bring some relief to the war-stricken country. Later in the program, Syrian filmmaker Talal Derki speaks about his award-winning film, Of Fathers of Sons, w...

On 2 October, Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi regime Insider and self-exiled critic of Mohamad Bin Salman walked into his country's consulate in Istanbul and never came out. After initial denials and claims that he had left the consulate shortly after arriving, Saudi Arabia admitted that the Mr Khashoggi was dead and it was some rouge elements who committed the murder. Soon after the disappearance of Mr Kh...

Nine months after a group of environmentalists affiliated with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation were imprisoned in Iran without any evidence of wrongdoing and denied due process—and after the death of the organization's founder, Kavous Seyed Emami - five members of this Foundation have been charged with national security crimes carrying the death penalty. We speak with Hadi Ghaemi, executi...

VOMENA Oct 26, 2018 by VOMENA Team at KPFA

Ever since a fishmonger was crushed to death in November of 2016 by a garbage compactor in El Hoceima, The northern Rif region of Morocco has been the scene of social unrest and protest against the Moroccan government, a movement that has been spreading to other parts of Morocco over the past two years. This week, we get an update on the protest movement in Morocco with Moroccan anthropologist Mir...

French President Emanuel Macron recently broke a long held taboo by recognizing the culpability of the French government in the kidnapping and murder of anti-colonial activist Maurice Audin in 1957 in Algiers. We look into the possible motivations behind this bold and historic act by the French president with UC Santa Cruz’ history Professor Muriem Haleh Davis, whose research focuses on the French...

Why would a celebrated Chilean playwright decide to bring attention to a human tragedy all the way back in Syria that has been unfolding for the past 7 years? Bay area based artist and director of Guillermo Calderón's play Boosa or Kiss, in Arabic, Evren Odcikin tells us about his decision to direct this play and about the role that art and theater can play in addressing pressing cultural and poli...

This week, we bring you the the second part of an indepth conversation about the root causes of the protests in Iraq with Balsam Mustafa, a PhD researcher in Modern Languages & Politics at the University of Birmingham Also this week, we remember the great palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish who passed away on August 9th 2008, following complications after major heart surgery in Houston, Texas. He was...