The New Arab Voice

This week, we tackle the aftermath of the massive explosion that shook Lebanon’s capital Beirut on August 4.The cataclysmic blast at Beirut’s port claimed the lives of at least 171 people and injured around 6,500 others. About half the city was left damaged or destroyed, with hundreds of thousands made homeless. As the explosion sank Beirut even further into the depths of Lebanon’s economic crisis, few will be able to afford to repair or rebuild their homes.The tragedy has revived anger at a political elite whose alleged negligence has been blamed for the blast, as reports suggest the authorities knew for years of the presence of dangerous stocks of ammonium nitrate that triggered the explosion, close to the residential, commercial and cultural heart of Beirut.With the absence of a proactive government, Beirut’s residents assembled task forces to care for each other and rebuild their city. As the world mourned with Lebanon, donations poured in for NGOs engaging in direct relief efforts on the ground. One of them is London-based Impact Lebanon, a little known organisation that has quickly mobilised to lead the overseas appeal for aid to Beirut. The New Arab spoke to to Impact Lebanon co-founder Diana Abbas, who says her organization felt a responsibility to take action amid the initial confusion of the devastating explosion.At the time of this episode’s release, Impact Lebanon has already exceeded £5 million in donations on its fundraiser for Beirut. The organization has since raised its target to £7.5 million. Should our listeners want to make a donation, they can find the fundraiser on the websites of Impact Lebanon and JustGiving, or by clicking here.To read The New Arab’s full profile of Impact Lebanon, click hereMake sure to follow The New Arab’s coverage of the Beirut blast on our website www.newarab.co.uk and social media channels Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more.This episode was hosted and produced by Danya Hajjaji, and researched by Narjas Zatat. Music by Omar al-Fil @elepheel. To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email multimedia.english@alaraby.co.uk) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The New Arab Voice. Our podcast bringing you the most compelling stories and deep-dives from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and beyond.For this episode, we’ll be examining the significance of Joe Biden’s direct address to the Muslim American community, the forced sterilisation of Uighur Muslim women in China and the Me Too movement’s long-overdue arrival to Egypt.But first a tribute to Beirut: As Gaia and Danyah, The New Arab podcast team, were finalizing this episode, a colossal blast devastated Lebanon’s capital Beirut. We unfortunately didn’t have the time to do a deep dive this story deserves, but we will dedicate special coverage to the tragedy in future episodes. The death toll currently stands at 140, with more than 5,000 injured. Hundreds are missing, many of them workers near the blast site. The number of victims is expected to rise as rescue workers continue to search through the rubble. As many as 300,000 people were made homeless, according to the governor of Beirut. We at The New Arab Voice encourage our followers to consider donating to an organisation of their choice working on the ground in Lebanon, such as the Lebanese Red Cross https://www.supportlrc.app/donate/donate.htmlMake sure to follow The New Arab’s coverage of the Beirut blast on our website www.newarab.co.uk and social media channels  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more.(Produced by Gaia Caramazza and Danya Hajjaji. Music by Omar al-Fil @elepheel. To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email multimedia.english@alaraby.co.uk) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen to the recorded live discussion on how the #BlackLivesMatter movement is shining a light on global racism and police brutality beyond American cities, from London to JerusalemThe murder of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, by police in Minneapolis, USA propelled the Black Lives Matter movement to global headlines. Mass protests in the US have since forced an urgent reckoning about systemic racism and police brutality.Beyond the US, many are interrogating the same issues in their own countries. In the UK, growing demonstrations are demanding an end to systemic racism and police violence against Black people, who are more than twice as likely to die in police custody than other groups.On Tuesday, 7 July 2020, our speakers discussed the connections between state repression and institutional racism beyond the US and think through the possibilities for international solidarity.For video version, check our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/tETcVYLrBdESpeakers:Marcia Rigg is an activist and public speaker. She is the sister of Sean Rigg, who died in police custody in 2008 following prolonged restraint by Brixton police officers in London. She is a member of the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC), a coalition of those affected by deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody in the UK.Loubna Qutami is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Qutami is also the former Executive Director of the Arab Cultural and Community Center (ACCC) in San Francisco and a founder and the former international general coordinator of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM).Moderator:Malia Bouattia is an activist, a former president of the National Union of Students, and co-founder of the Students not Suspects/Educators not Informants Network.Follow us on Facebook/Alaraby.en, Twitter/@The_NewArab, and Instagram/TheNewArab for more or visit our website newarab.co.uk(The statements, analysis, opinions and conclusions in this Webinar, and any related written materials are those of the guest speakers and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab. The information and materials contained in the Webinar may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The recorded live webinar from 11 June on the current political and media landscapes of the Gulf 3 years after the Gulf crisis first began. Our speakers explored questions such as: How have Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s calculations failed and how is Qatar faring today? Where do other key regional players such as US, Turkey and Iran stand in relation to the crisis? How has the emergence of new shared challenges this year (such as coronavirus) impacted the prospects for reconciliation? Who is winning the narrative war on the global stage?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Speakers:Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is a Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute for Pub-lic Policy and Associate Fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House. He is the author of seven books, including five on the Gulf, the most recent being Qatar and the Gulf Crisis (Hurst, February 2020).Reem Alharami is a researcher and columnist. She was a fellow at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York. She has published articles in both Arabic and English, in several international newspapers and websites. Her interests are focused on issues such as media and social media; counter-terrorism; feminism and women’s issues; and international and U.S. politics. Moderator:Abdulrahman Elshayyal was the CEO of Alaraby Aljadeed, a pan-Arab news organisation, and a board member of Alaraby TV. Previously, he worked at the BBC world service in different roles as well as the University of Birmingham and government departments where he worked on gulf security issues. He was also responsible for setting up a media training institute in Yemen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The recent death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis has triggered ongoing outrage across the United States  with tens of thousands taking to the streets to protest against racism and police brutality against African Americans.Floyd was a 46 year-old unarmed black man who was killed when a white police officer who put him in handcuffs and knelt on his neck for almost 9 minutes for simply using a counterfeit $20 bill. The brutality of this scene caught on camera triggered outrage and civil unrest in 140 American cities.It is the latest in a string of incidents in the US involving white police officers using violence to subdue, and kill unarmed and often innocent African American men and women.The role of art in revolutions is as old as time, and now George Floyd's portrait is overtaking the walls of cities across the globe. Find out how artists in the United States and the Middle East are standing in solidarity and raising awareness one artwork at a time.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Live Webinar RecordingFor video please see our Youtube Channel https://youtu.be/3OZ2bFLTpWw Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century” has given Israel new momentum to continue its forced displacement of Palestinians that has been on-going since the 1948 Nakba, the 72nd anniversary of which was marked by Palestinians on May 15. Recently, the new Netanyahu-Gantz unity government made clear its plans to illegally annex new parts of the West Bank and formalize a de facto process that began decades ago.Netanyahu is expected to put forth its annexation proposal in July. The results of this move will be devastating to the lives of Palestinians under occupation, with much of the West Bank potentially falling under Israeli law, and what is left of the land earmarked for a future Palestinian state becoming nothing more than scattered bantustans, not only putting the PA’s project of a two-state solution to rest, but painting a picture of an ever more apparent one-state reality.Despite Palestinian outrage across the political spectrum, the Arab nations and the international community are yet to react in earnest to the looming grave violation of international law, save for usual statements of opposition and general concern, and move to prevent another cycle of displacement and dispossession.Join us on Thursday, 21 May 2020 for a discussion on the situation on the ground and the international landscape as the spectre of annexation threatens to drive a final nail in the coffin of the Palestinians' quest to right the historical injustice against them and achieve self-determination, and what hope remains for them and their allies to stop Israel's plan.Speakers:Suhad Bishara (Adalah)Abdelhamid Siyam (Rutgers University, NJ)Moderated by Malia Bouattia-------Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For many poor migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees who live in lurid conditions, often in overcrowded accommodations, social distancing is a privilege, and medical attention is a distant dream. During a global pandemic, these become life-threatening circumstances.In Europe, refugee camps are bracing for an outbreak of the novel Coronavirus. Greece, where refugees live in squalid conditions, is desperately attempting to ship migrants from Moria,  Europe’s largest refugee camp, before the virus hits. And across the continent, in France, refugees living in the dystopian camps in Calais scoff at the ludicrous notion of social distancing.The pandemic is also casting a heavy shadow on Asia. In West Asia, countries like Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria have some of the world’s largest numbers of displaced people per capita while in South and East Asia, countries like Bangladesh, host to large numbers of the Rohingya minority fleeing from the conflict in Myanmar, are scrambling to prevent a major outbreak in refugee camps, as cases are set to be confirmed anytime now inside the camps.In this episode of the New Arab Voice, we focus on how the refugee and migrant population is at a greater risk under the present pandemic, why this is likely to spur a new humanitarian crisis, and what aid organizations are doing to deal with this threat.We’ll be speaking with Rula Amin, from the UNHCR on how they are supporting refugees at this time, Ro, a resident of the largest refugee camp in the world in Cox's Bazar, and Ali Mohamed,from Migrant-Rights.org in Bahrain on how migrant workers in the Middle East are at particular risk. Finally, keep listening to hear a conversation with Dr Dawn Chatty emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Oxford, regarding the history of migration in the region and what it can teach us about the future after the pandemic.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more.(Produced by Gaia Caramazza, Music by Omar al-Fil @elepheel. To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Covid-19 has exacerbated many structural problems in the MENA region, throwing already fragile states, embattled economies, and restive societies into deeper turmoil. Reflecting the deeply rooted inequality in the region, the impact of the pandemic has not been uniform across the region, hitting vulnerable segments, including women and refugees, disproportionately harder. Gender-based marginalization and structural, economic, and physical violence endemic to many parts of the MENA region have been compounded by the invisible viral pandemic. The often strict lockdown measures it has triggered means many women are left trapped with abusers without recourse to shelter or assistance, while many others, despite already being responsible for most thankless unpaid labour as parents or carers in free-falling economies, are now struggling to cope with the added weight of the novel coronavirus. The recorded live discussion focused on the specific ways in which Covid-19 has disproportionately affected women in the Levant subregion of MENA, and what some feminist groups have been doing to improve women’s resilience since the start of the pandemic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Speakers:Lina Abou-Habib is an expert in mainstreaming gender in development policies and practices and in building capacities for gender mainstreaming in regional and international agencies as well as public institutions. She is currently a Senior Policy Fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (American University of Beirut).  She also serves as the Chair of the Collective for Research and Training of Development-Action and is a Strategic MENA Advisor for the Global Fund for Women.  She is a member of the editorial board of the Gender and Development journal published by Oxfam and Routledge. She holds an M.A. in Public Health from American University in Beirut.Maria Al Abdeh is a feminist researcher and Executive Director of Women Now For Development (WND). Maria has a PhD in Microbiology. She joined Women Now for Development in November 2013  and since then she accompanied the growth of the organization to become the largest network of women empowerment centers inside Syria and the neighboring countries and participated in many campaigns and conferences to reach out the voices of the most vulnerable women to the media, activists and decision makers, and focuses on women and conflict and women rights in the MENA region. In March 2016 Maria received the Award of Feminine Success in France, and together with WND received in May 2016 the Award of ‘Delivering Lasting Change’ for commitment to Justice and Dignity from CARE international. Soheir Asaad is a political and feminist Palestinian activist, and an organizer in the "Tal'at Movement" – a Palestinian political feminist movement. Launched in September 2019 under the slogan “There is no free homeland without free women”, Tal’at seeks to build Palestinian, de-fragmented feminist solidarity and activism across the whole of historic Palestine and the diaspora community. Asaad is also a human rights advocate and has a Masters degree in Law (LL.M.) with Honors from the Center for Civil & Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame (US), with a focus on international human rights law.Moderator:Danya Hajjaji is a journalist at The New Arab. She previously served as Patti Birch Fellow for Middle East Research at the Committee to Protect Journalists. Danya earned her MS in Journalism from Columbia University and her BA in Media and Communications from the University of Sussex.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following on from last week’s episode focusing on how the Coronavirus is affecting the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, this week we will focus on the hardships that many across the Middle East and North Africa are facing during this month, especially vulnerable groups.We will focus on how the region’s financial downturn coupled with the demands of Ramadan could fuel social unrest, and the effect on mental health and general well being. Next we will discuss why the outbreak of Covid-19 in war-torn Yemen is being ignored by many, even though an outbreak in the country could result in an unprecedented death toll.Finally, we will find out why lockdown measures are producing life-threatening circumstances for women in the region.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more.(Produced by Gaia Caramazza, Music by Omar al-Fil @elepheel. To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The New Arab Voice, we want to highlight how Muslims all over the world, are coping with the sudden change of circumstances and how they are finding creative ways to keep alive the sacred practices of their faith during the holy month of ramadan. We will also be speaking with UK-based General practitioner Dr. Milad Hilli who has all the answers to your health-related queries surrounding Ramadan and Covid-19.At the end of this special Ramadan episode, I will speak to my colleagues from The New Arab newsroom who have been preparing earnestly for Ramadan, to understand how they are coping with the Loss of communal spaces and being cut off from extended families and communities.Lastly, you’ll hear my chat with my colleague and vegan food aficionado, Diana Alghoul, about why food is important to keep your body and mind healthy during this ramadan.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more.(Produced by Gaia Caramazza, Music by Omar al-Fil @elepheel. To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.