Tag Archives: Civil Liberties

After the murder of Mahsa Amini by morality police Iran has seen protests, demonstrations, and an ongoing resistance movement against its regime. What best explains the origins and persistence of this movement? What has influenced Iran’s resistant movement? We will explore the status of women and the history of women’s rights movement in Iran. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Also, Iran has a substantial number of diaspora around the world. They help frame the issues that are occurring inside its borders. What is the interaction between Iranians abroad and Iranians in Iran and the resistance movement going on right now in the nation?

Persis Karim is the Neda Nobari Chair of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies and a professor in the Comparative and World Literature department at SF State. She is the author of Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora.
Nayereh Tohidi is Professor Emerita in the Department of Gender & Women’s Studies and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at California State University, Northridge. She is the author of Women’s Rights and Feminist Movements in Iran.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy and its effect on contemporary civil rights movement- January 15, 2023

January 16, 2023 host

To commemorate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. we discuss Dr King’s life, his work, his legacy and his memory. We then explore the impact of Dr King and his memory on contemporary issues, including the role of women on the movement and the security of people of color as embodied in the Black Lives Matter movement. What is the meaning of Dr King’s dream today? [ dur: 58mins. ]

David Garrow is Professor of History and Law at the University of Pittsburgh and Former Senior Research Fellow at Cambridge University. He is the author of Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. His website is www.davidgarrow.com.
Keith Miller is Professor of English and Professor, Affiliate Faculty, at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University. He is the author of Martin Luther King’s Biblical Epic: His Great, Final Speech and Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Its Sources. His website is: drkeithdmiller.com.
Jared Clemons is Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University. He is the author of “Freedom Now!” to “Black Lives Matter”: Retrieving King and Randolph to Theorize Contemporary White Antiracism.
Dewey M. Clayton is Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisville. He is the author of The presidential campaign of Barack Obama: A critical analysis of a racially transcendent strategy, African Americans and the politics of congressional redistricting and Black Lives Matter and the Civil Rights Movement: A Comparative Analysis of Two Social Movements in the United States .

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Conflict Resolution in Post Communist Eurasia and Power of ideas to shape Nation States – October 2, 2022

October 2, 2022 host

Regions have the resilience to manage conflicts and ensure they do not spread to other countries. Our guest Anna Ohanyan examines the factors that help build this resilience. She is the author of The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia. [ dur: 30mins. ]

Anna Ohanyan is the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College. She is the editor of Russia Abroad: Driving Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia and Beyond and her latest book The Neighborhood Effect: The Imperial Roots of Regional Fracture in Post-Communist Eurasia.

Then, our panel looks at the power of ideas to shape countries, foreign policies, international power structures and the world. [ dur: 28mins. ]

From our archive, originally recorded in December 2012:

Liz Borgwardt is Associate Professor of Human Rights History and International Law at Washington University in St. Louis. She currently serves as the Richard and Ann Pozen Visiting Professor of Human Rights at the University of Chicago. She is the author of Constitutionalizing Human Rights: The Rise and Rise of the Nuremberg Principles, The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire and the award-winning book, A New Deal for the World: America’s Vision for Human Rights.
Christopher McKnight Nichols is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Humanities at Oregon State University. He is the author of Promise and Peril , America at Dawn of a Global Age and Rethinking American Grand Strategy.
Tim Lynch is Associate Professor of American Politics at the University of Melbourne. He is the author of In the Shadow of the Cold War: American Foreign Policy from George Bush Sr. to Donald Trump and co-author of After Bush: the Case for Continuity in American Foreign Policy.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Ethnic Conflict in Autocratic Uzbekistan and Tajikistan ; Creative Lawyers for Human Rights – September 11, 2022

September 12, 2022 host

Protests across Central Asia have rocked the nations of the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The states’ violent suppression of these movements have killed hundreds and undermined human rights protections. We explore the roots of these conflicts and what these violent crackdown mean for human rights, democracy, transparency and peace in the region. [ dur: 31mins. ]

Steve Swerdlow, esq. is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. A human rights lawyer and expert on the former Soviet region, Swerdlow was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, heading the organization’s work on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and founding its Kyrgyzstan field office. He is the author of Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners and Uzbekistan’s Ethnic Minorities: Out of Sight, But Not Out of Mind.
Suzanne Levi-Sanchez is Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. She is the author of The Afghan-Central Asia Borderlands: The State and Local Leaders, Bridging State and Civil Society: Informal Organizations in Tajik/Afghan Badakhshan, and The assassination that shook the Pamir Mountains to the core.

We interview Maria Armoudian who has authored a book on international human rights and the role that lawyers have played at advancing cases against human rights abusers. [ dur: 27mins. ]

Maria Armoudian is a lecturer at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. She is the author of the books Reporting from the Danger Zone: Frontline Journalists, Their Jobs and an Increasingly Perilous Future, Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World, and her most recent Lawyers Beyond Borders : Advancing International Human Rights Through Local Laws and Courts . Maria is a host and anchor of the Scholars’ Circle.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Examining Disability and Ableism – October 10, 2021

October 10, 2021 host

The rights of persons with disabilities is a growing and important area of human rights. But what does it mean to ensure equal treatment under the law? What exactly is a disability, and who makes the judgment? And what do we mean by ableism? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Lydia X. Z. Brown is Core Faculty in the Disabilities Studies Program at Georgetown University as well as Adjunct Professional Lecturer in the Critical Race, Gender and Culture Studies Program at American University. Lydia is the author of Ableist Shame and Disruptive Bodies: Survivorship at the Intersection of Queer, Trans, and Disabled Existence.
Michael Ashley Stein is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, and a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. He is the editor of the book Mental Health, Legal Capacity and Human Rights.
Joel Michael Reynolds is a senior advisor to The Hastings Center and an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Disability Studies at Georgetown University. He is the co-author of The Harm of Ableism: Medical Error and Epistemic Injustice and the author of Three Things Clinicians Should Know about Disability.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Cubans, Protest and Demand – August 8, 2021

August 8, 2021 host

We discuss the ongoing political climate in Cuba and the US response to them. How much is the US responsible for this state? And how should the US respond to the protests? [ dur: 58mins. ]

Lillian Guerra is professor of Cuban and Caribbean History at the University of Florida. She is the author of Heroes, Martyrs and Political Messiahs in Revolutionary Cuba, 1946-1958 and the forthcoming Patriots and Traitors in Cuba: Political Pedagogy, Rehabilitation and Vanguard Youth, 1961-1981. She has also authored the article Cubans Want Much More Than an End to the U.S. Embargo.
Brian Fonseca is Director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University’s (FIU) Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. He is the author of Culture and National Security in the Americas and the co-author of Democracy and Security in Latin America with Orlando Perez and Gabriel Marcella.
Richard Feinberg is a Professor of International Political Economy at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy.

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into the Abraham Accord between Israel and some Arab States – January 31, 2021

January 30, 2021 host

Several Arab states have signed normalization agreements with Israel. What do these “Abraham Accords” mean for security in the region and for the future of Palestinian people? What are the solutions to the Palestinian conflict? What are the alternatives to a two state solution and should the focus for Palestinians be on their civil rights? Hosted by Doug Becker. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Laurie A. Brand is the Robert Grandford Wright Professor of International Relations and Middle East Studies at the University of Southern California. She is the author of Citizens Abroad: States and Migration in the Middle East and North Africa and Official Stories: Politics and National Narratives in Egypt and Algeria.
Mira Sucharov is Professor of Political Science and University Chair of Teaching Innovation at Carlton University. She is the author of Borders and Belonging: A Memoir and the co-editor (with Aaron J. Hahn Tapper) of Social Justice and Israel/Palestine: Foundational & Contemporary Debates.
Hamoud Salhi is a Professor of Political Science and Middle East, and Associate Dean of the College of Social and Natural Sciences at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is a political commentator for Arabic media. Hamoud is a host of SWANA Region Radio on KPFK, Los Angeles.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Implications of Homeland Agency troops against Protestors in Portland – July 26, 2020

July 26, 2020 host

Federal troops occupy Portland despite local government’s demand that they leave. These troops often do not wear uniforms and have seized protesters off the streets in unmarked vans. We discuss the legal and political implications. We also examine the implications on democracy, civil liberties, and the protest movements that mark America’s cities. Doug Becker hosts. [ dur: 58mins. ]

Jennifer L. Selin is a Kinder Institute Assistant Professor of Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. She is the co-editor of Sourcebook of United States Executive Agencies and co-author of Political Control and the Forms of Agency Independence.
Nadine Strossen is John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School. She is the Immediate Past President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008). She is the author of HATE: Why We Should Resist it With Free Speech, Not Censorship.
David S. Meyer is Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and Planning, Policy, and Design. He is the author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America and co-editor of The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement.

This program is produced by the following team members: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle -Insight on Hong Kong protests – May 31, 2020

May 30, 2020 host

In this hour, as Beijing seeks greater control over Hong Kong, protesters are demanding the promised autonomy laid out in the 1997 agreement. What’s next for Hong Kong? What are the implications of China’s latest moves to strip more autonomy from Hong kong? We revisit our conversation from last year on this issue. Doug Becker hosts.[ dur: 58 mins. ]

Dr Pradeep Taneja is professor of Chinese politics, political economy and international relations at the University of Melbourne. He is the co-author of China Since 1978 and co-editor of The European Union and China: Interests and Dilemmas.
Katherine Chu is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Asian Pacific Studies at Cal State Dominguez Hills. She is the author of So You Think You Know Chinese Film: Beyond Jackie Chan and Crouching Tiger.
Daniel C. Lynch is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at City University of Hong Kong. He is the author of China’s Futures: PRC Elites Debate Economics, Politics, and Foreign Policy. and Rising China and Asian Democratization: Socialization to “Global Culture” in the Political Transformations of Thailand, China, and Taiwan.

This program is produced with contributions from the following team members: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Corporations in USA Gain Civil Rights -/- Known, Unknown and Forgotten legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – April 8, 2018

April 7, 2018 host

First, how did corporations get civil rights? The two-hundred-year battle to give corporations personhood and constitutional protections. [ dur: 34 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Adam Winkler is Professor of Law at UCLA Law School. He is the author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms and We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights.

Then, while much of the country remembers Martin Luther King, Jr. as primarily a leader of civil rights and desegregation and a great orator, our next guests say he stood for so much more. Many aspects of his life, legacy & philosophy remain either unknown or conveniently forgotten. [ dur: 24 mins. ]

David Garrow is Professor of History and Law at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr: From “Solo” to Memphis.
Joshua Inwood is Professor of Geography and Africana Studies in the Geography Department at the University of Tennessee. His publications include, Nonkilling Geography, Searching for the Promised Land: Examining Dr. Martin Luther King’s Concept of the Beloved Community, and Street naming and the politics of belonging: spatial injustices in the toponymic commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.
Thomas Jackson is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is the author of, From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: Civil Liberties

Scholars’ Circle – Women protest in Iran, a persistent struggle – April 2, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy and its effect on contemporary civil rights movement- January 15, 2023

Scholars’ Circle – Conflict Resolution in Post Communist Eurasia and Power of ideas to shape Nation States – October 2, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Ethnic Conflict in Autocratic Uzbekistan and Tajikistan ; Creative Lawyers for Human Rights – September 11, 2022

Scholars’ Circle – Examining Disability and Ableism – October 10, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Cubans, Protest and Demand – August 8, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into the Abraham Accord between Israel and some Arab States – January 31, 2021

Scholars’ Circle – Implications of Homeland Agency troops against Protestors in Portland – July 26, 2020

Scholars’ Circle -Insight on Hong Kong protests – May 31, 2020

Scholars’ Circle – Corporations in USA Gain Civil Rights -/- Known, Unknown and Forgotten legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – April 8, 2018

By Maria Armoudian