Episode 41 - The Shah, the Ayatollahs and 74 years of American bullshit in Iran | Hamid Dabashi | UNAPOLOGETIC
“Every inch of that precious city is Rome and Paris and New York put together, and these barbaric savages go, ‘Oh Isfahan, we just bombed Isfahan’; they don’t even know where Isfahan is.” Hamid Dabashi, is an American and Iranian professor at Columbia University. He joined UNAPOLGETIC on this episode to give a scathing critique of US and Israeli adventurism and aggression in Iran and the region. Dabashi rebukes both states for having “absolutely no moral legitimacy” to export either freedom or democracy, especially while Israel continues to carry out a “genocide” in Gaza and the US under Trump cracks down on its own democratic institutions. The episode also delves into Iran's contemporary history, looking at how the CIA orchestrated coup of Iran’s elected leader allowed the Pahlavi dynasty to reestablish “autocratic” rule in Iran, which led to a popular uprising that paved the way for Ayatollah Khomeini to opportunistically establish Iran’s theocracy that has presided over Iran with a “totalitarian” fist, ever since. UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim Chapters 00:00 - Intro 02:22 - Israel-US no legitimacy on nuclear bombs 07:08 - Iran belongs to Iranian people 12:33 - US-Israel actions will be remembered 17:06 - The empire’s collapse 21:40 - West’s hypocrisy on Iran 26:55 - Israel’s war on Iran 33:18 - West's history with Iran 38:11 - The 1953 CIA coup 44:20 - Pahlavi and autocracy 49:35 - Khomeini seizes opportunity 55:58 - Iran’s totalitarian theocracy 1:02:41 - Trump and democratic decline 1:10:25 - Freedom as imperial excuse 1:17:04 - Moral clarity from the South 1:24:45 - Final reflections
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Episode 40 - Iran, Israel, USA and World War 3 | Chris Hedges | UNAPOLOGETIC |
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges joins us on UNAPOLOGETIC for a conversation on what the consequences could be if Israel draws the USA into a full-blown war with Iran.Hedges reflects on his years reporting from war zones, the cynical nihilism driving Netanyahu’s assault, and how Israel’s genocide in Gaza has become a “spectacle” that has irreparably broken trust between North and South.Are Israel’s and the Pentagon’s stated shifting priorities real, or a façade to continue diminishing societal infrastructure in the region? Will the complicity of Arab states in the genocide lead to blowback? Is regime change the goal, or is this just an excuse?UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim
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Episode 39 - “This nightmare” was created due to Europe’s antisemitism | Ghada Karmi | UNAPOLOGETIC
“It’s left me with a deep and simmering anger against the western powers who imposed this nightmare on us.”Palestinian physician, author and Nakba survivor Ghada Karmi joins UNAPOLOGETIC to speak about how her life has been shaped by exile and how, as she tried to find a new home in the UK, she was confronted by experiences that enhanced her desire to reconnect with her Palestinian identity and eventually made her want to embrace a life where she lived in service of liberating Palestinians from Zionist occupation.She also reflects on the current unfolding genocide in Gaza, what she calls Arab and western complicity and how this event will traumatise future generations of Palestinians Chapters0:00 Intro and context setup 2:00 Two Nakbas, 77 years apart 4:32 Predicting 7 October’s logic 8:09 Fleeing Jerusalem in 1948 14:46 Remembering home, dog, Fatima 17:29 Life as a refugee child 21:28 1967 war changed everything 27:19 Reclaiming identity through activism 29:16 Visiting her old home 34:04 Learning the deeper history 43:58 Zionism’s effect on region 44:54 Arab states and complicity 55:57 The one-state vision today 1:09:00 Final reflections
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Episode 38 - What I’ve learnt by organising 20 months of anti-genocide protests| Ben Jamal | UNAPOLOGETIC
Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, joins UNAPOLOGETIC for a wide-ranging conversation about who has been complicit for the genocide in Gaza, the global shift in rhetoric, and what it takes to organise 20 months of continous mass protest across the UK.He unpacks the gap between what Western governments say and what they do - from condemning Israeli actions as “indefensible” while continuing to arm them, to criminalising peaceful protesters demanding justice. Jamal also reflects on his arrest and upcoming trial, the police’s systematic efforts to repress the movement, and why those tactics have failed to break the solidarity movement.In deeply personal moments, Jamal shares the story of his Palestinian father, his own political awakening, and what it has meant to sustain this movement through exhaustion, grief and hope.We ask: What does the future look like for Gaza? For Palestinian liberation? And for a world that has tolerated so much horror in real time?Chapters:00:00 Intro03:12 Shifts in media and government10:01 Words mean nothing without action15:30 Divestment wins and public pressure21:12 The arrest: what happened27:03 How police target protests32:47 BBC march and police trap38:55 Criminalised for peaceful protest44:11 Holding a movement together49:35 Building a resistance community54:20 Ben’s Palestinian family story1:00:07 Organising through trauma and grief1:05:05 Family, kids and solidarity1:10:10 What happens to Gaza now1:14:58 Will Palestinians be erased?1:20:10 Movement grows through genocide1:26:30 What keeps Ben going1:32:10 Final reflections
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Episode 37 - Why the Crusades occurred and what is their legacy | Roy Casagranda | UNAPOLOGETIC
What were the Crusades really about - and why do they still matter today?In this deep-dive episode of UNAPOLOGETIC, historian and political scientist Professor Roy Casagranda comes back to the show to unpack the history, legacy and weaponisation of the Crusades. We begin by exploring why Jerusalem holds such profound spiritual and political importance to Judaism, Christianity and Islam - and how that shared reverence resulted in periods where the city was pluralistic and multicultural, and other periods where it was subject to conquest, ethnic cleansing, colonisation and occupation. From the First Crusade and the fall of Jerusalem, to the leadership of Salahuddin, to the devastation of the Mongol invasions, Roy walks us through a thousand-year arc of conflict, ideology and empire. But this isn’t just about the past.We examine how the logic of the Crusades impacts our current political landscape and geopolitics. Was the partition of the Middle East by colonial powers after World War I an extension of the Crusades? What about the War on Terror, drone strikes and ongoing Western interventions in the Muslim world?UNAPOLOGETIC is hosted by Ashfaaq Carim. Chapters0:00 Intro collage 3:00 Why Jerusalem matters 7:40 Jewish roots and the Temple 12:20 Rise of Christianity 17:00 Islam and early rule 21:40 Muslim rule of Jerusalem 26:20 What triggered the Crusades 31:00 The call to crusade (1095) 35:40 Norman warriors and motives 40:20 The first massacres 45:00 Taking Jerusalem (1099) 49:40 Crusader brutality revealed 54:20 Crusader states form 59:00 Muslim response builds 1:03:40 Zengi, Nur ad-Din and resistance 1:08:20 Rise of Salahuddin 1:13:00 Egypt campaigns begin 1:17:40 Salahuddin becomes wazir 1:22:20 The Fatimids fall 1:27:00 Power struggles with Nur ad-Din 1:31:40 Salahuddin unifies Syria 1:36:20 The peace treaty 1:41:00 Breaking the peace 1:45:40 Battle of Hattin 1:50:20 Retaking Jerusalem 1:55:00 The Third Crusade begins 1:59:40 Legacy of the Crusades 2:04:20 The fifth Crusade? 2:09:00 Zionism as settler project 2:13:40 Clash of civilizations 2:18:20 Anti-Arab hatred in the West 2:23:00 Demographic shifts and Gen Z
UNAPOLOGETIC is a show that unapologetically looks at the life, times and views of some unapologetic and not so unapologetic humans. Hosted by Ashfaaq Carim
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