In the 1st part of today’s program, we are going to
examine the nature
of political Islam. Muslims and Middle Eastern people
have been under suspicion and scrutiny attack by the
Bush administration here because of their country of
origin and religious background. Despite this, it is
important to analyze political Islam, its social
origins and how it affects the people and social
movements in Iran and in the Middle East in general,
from the point of view of the workers’ movement. It is
critical to show that it is not a religious war and to
show that those who see this as clash of different
religions are part of the problem and want to hide
more critical issues like hunger, unemployment and the
effects of capitalism.
Iranians have had a unique experience in the Middle
East and for more than two decades have been truggling
toward the basic principle of "separation of religion
and state". This demand can be heard in all parts of
the political spectrum in Iran. We have interviewed
Mehdi Kia the editor of Iran Bulletin. To get more
information about his views, you can go to their
website, http://www.Iran-bulletin.org or check our
website at http://www.me-radio.org.
The 2nd part of the program is an interview with Lenni
Brenner. You can not talk about fanaticism and
religious rule without forgetting Israel and
Christian-Zionists in the United States. The US
foreign policy has resulted in strengthening or
spreading many reactionary religious movements like
Taliban in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia brand of
religion. In this year’s presidential election, John
Kerry is not offering a better or different
alternative from what the Bush administration is
offering to the Middle East region. It has become
more relevant to say, "one party with two factions of
Democrats, and Republicans" about the political system
in the US. The current political direction in the US
is continued blanket support for the Israel without
regard for the state of millions of Palestinians under
occupation. To look at Zionism and Christian-Zionism
in the Unites States, Steve Seltzer did an interview
with Lenni Brenner. Lenni Brenner is The author of
numerous books on Zionism including: "Zionism in the
Age of the Dictators" and "Documents on collaboration
Of Zionists and Nazi". For more information on Lenni
you can go the website:
www.angelfire.com/co4/eccmei/J/host/brenner.html
or go to our website at www.me-radio.org
e-mail us at contact@me-radio
or call (510) 848-0124 ext 648.