What is behind the ban on the niqab in France?

On the next Your Call, we’ll discuss France's official ban on the niqab--the part of a burqa that covers a woman's face except for her eyes. Out of five million Muslims in France, less than 2,000 women actually wear it. So why has the ban created such a heated debate? What’s behind this law? Join us at 10 or send an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. And what are the larger issues at stake for France and other Western liberal societies? It’s Your Call with Hana Baba and you.

Guests:
Zahra Billoo, executive director for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Hilal Elver, professor of comparative law, international human rights, and environmental law and co-Director of Global Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Marnia Lazreg is professor of sociology at Hunter College in New York. Originally from Algeria, she has lectured extensively at home and around the world on development, gender, and the geopolitics of Islam. She is author of Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad. In addition to gender and Islam, she researches French colonial history and empire studies; torture and identity; and postmodernist theory. She joins us by phone from New York.

Click to Listen: What is behind the ban on the niqab in France?

What are the effects of war on civilians?

On the next Your Call, we'll speak with war correspondent Anna Badkhen about her new book, Peace Meals: Candy-Wrapped Kalashnikovs and Other War Stories, a travelogue about war, food, and humanity. How do stories of people living in war zones help us understand the impact of war on civilian populations? Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How do people manage to persevere in extreme situations? And what stories would actually resonate with the public? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guest:
Anna Badkhen, a journalist and the author of Peace Meals: Candy-Wrapped Kalashnikovs and Other War Stories

Click to Listen: What are the effects of war on civilians?

Media Roundtable

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday Media Roundtable. This week, we'll discuss coverage of President Obama's decision to lift the oil-drilling ban. We'll also talk about coverage of the rescued miners in Chile and the lack of coverage of mining disasters in the U.S. and Mexico. We'll be joined by Left Turn's Jordan Flaherty, the Washington Independent's Andrew Restuccia and independent journalist Franc Contreras. Join us at 11 a.m or send an email to feedback@yourcallradio.org. Where did you see the best reporting this week? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Andrew Restuccia, Energy and Environment Reporter at The Washington Independent

Franc Contreras, an independent reporter based in Mexico. He has been reporting for NPR, the BBC, and CBC Radio in Toronto, and Aljazeera Network.

Jordan Flaherty, editor of Left Turn Magazine

Click to Listen: Media Roundtable

Event:
Rose Aguilar is speaking at this weekend's Bioneers conference in San Rafael.
Women, Gender and Media: Changing the Conversation
Sunday, October 17, at 4:30pm

Has Obama Repaired our International Image?

How is it different to be an American abroad now that President Obama is in the White House? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation about the experiences Americans have when traveling overseas. The Bush Administration's policies severely tarnished the U.S. image globally. That has changed with President Obama in office and the House has passed a bill to launch a campaign promoting travel to the U.S. Join us live at 11 or send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. What travel experiences stand out for you? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Mike Barish, a freelance writer specializing in travel

Robert Reid, Lonely Planet's U.S. Travel Editor and spokesperson

John Vlahides, travel writer, co-founder of 71Miles.com, & TV host of National Geographic Adventure

Click to Listen: Has Obama Repaired our International Image?

What's the State of the Arts in the Arab World?

What's the state of artistic expression in the Arab world? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with three filmmakers at this year's Arab Film Festival. What are the boundaries of free expression in the Arab world and how do they differ from one country to the next? What can we learn about the Middle East through cinematic narratives? Join us live at 11 or email us at feedback@yourcallradio.org. What impacts have political and economic change had on what artists can put into the public realm? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Michel Shehadeh, executive director of the Arab Film Festival

Ibrahim El-Batout, an Egyptian filmmaker based in Cairo and director of Ein Shams (or Eye of the Sun)

Kalthoum Bornaz, Tunisian filmmaker and director of The Other Half of the Sky

Najwa Najjar, Palestinian filmmaker and director of Pomegranates and Myrrh

Click to Listen: What's the State of the Arts in the Arab World?

Your Call 091609 Why do disasters bring out the best in us?

Why do disasters so often bring out the best in people? On the next Your Call we speak with writer, critic and activist Rebecca Solnit about her new book A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster. She tells the story of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, Halifax Nova Scotia after a devastating munitions explosion that shattered windows 50 miles away, 9-11 and New Orleans after the levies failed among other disasters. In that time of shock and dislocation, when everything familiar has been leveled, Solnit found generosity, altruism, heroism and joy.

Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. What is it about catastrophe that frees people to be good? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guest:
Rebecca Solnit in San Francisco
Writes about the environment, politics, place, and art from her home here in San Francisco. Solnit has received many awards for her writing: a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship for Literature and the 2004 Wired Rave Award for writing. Her latest book is called A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster.

Click to Listen: Why do disasters bring out the best in us?

Your Call 091109 What can the world teach us about healthcare?

What can we learn from the rest of the world about how healthcare can work? On the next Your Call we'll speak with T.R. Reid, author of The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, about his round the world trip comparing health care systems. Why do Americans spend so much more on staying healthy, but get sicker, go bankrupt more often and regularly die from diseases the rest of the world handles easily?

Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. Can good health care be part of the American way? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
T.R. Reid in San Francisco
Veteran foreign correspondent for The Washington Post, a commentator for National Public Radio and the author of 10 books, including three in Japanese. His latest is called The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care.

Click to Listen: What can the world teach us about healthcare?

Your Call 082609 Is there a new colonial rush on in Africa?

Is there a new colonial rush on in Africa? On the next Your Call we will speak with Serge Michel, author of China Safari and scholar Nii Akuettah about increasing Chinese efforts to exploit - and develop - Africa. How is the Chinese approach different from the way the American government has operated on the Continent? Is either a good deal? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 a.m. Can African nations make it without being a client of a major power? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guests:
Serge Michel in Geneva
Author of China Safari: On the Trail of Beijing's Expansion in Africa. Michel was the West Africa Correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde after stints in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. He won the Albert Londres Prize, France's most prestigious journalistic award, for his work in Iran and is the founder of the Bondy Blog, a citizen journalism project in the suburbs of Paris.

Nii Akuetteh in Washington DC
Independent Africa policy analyst and researcher. He is the former executive director of the Washington, DC-based group Africa Action.

Click to Listen: Is there a new colonial rush on in Africa?

Your Call 051209 Who are the Hindus?

Who are the Hindus? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Wendy Doniger, author of The Hindus: An Alternative History of Hinduism. With around 890 million practitioners, Hinduism has a rich tradition of texts but just as much history that falls in the cracks between the texts. What are the history and beliefs of Hindus? Send us an email at feedback@yourcallradio.org or join us live at 11 am. How are Hindus changing the American experience? It's Your Call, with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
Suhag Shukla, legal counsel and managing director of Hindu American Foundation

Wendy Doniger, Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago

Click to Listen: Who are the Hindus?

Your Call 041609 Who controls the means of reproduction?

Who controls the means of reproduction? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with Michelle Goldberg, author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World. Botched abortions kill 70,000 women every year worldwide. What's being done to protect them? You can join the conversation by email at feedback@yourcallradio.org. How is the religious right curtailing women's reproductive health around the world? And who's fighting that powerful force? It's Your Call, with Rose Aguilar and you.

Guest:
Michelle Goldberg, a journalist and the author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World

Click to Listen: Who controls the means of reproduction?

Your Call 041409 Commons Series - What do we lose when a language dies?

What do we lose when a language dies? On the next Your Call we'll continue our series on Commons where we ask how we care for what we share. Most linguists and anthropologists believe that the majority of languages spoken now around the globe will disappear within our lifetime. What forms of knowledge are embedded in a language's structure and vocabulary and can we preserve it after the last speaker is gone? We'll talk with David Harrison, globe trotting linguist and author of When Languages Die and Laura Welcher, head of the San Francisco based Rosetta project. How harmful is it to humanity that such knowledge is lost forever? It's Your Call with Sandip Roy and you.

Guests:
David Harrison in Philadelphia
Professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College. He is the author of When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge.

Laura Welcher
Archive Director for the Rosetta Project, a project of the San Francisco based Long Now foundation. Rosetta is building a publicly accessible digital library of human languages. Since becoming a National Science Digital Library collection in 2004, the Rosetta Archive has more than doubled its collection size, now serving nearly 100,000 pages of material documenting over 2,500 languages - the largest resource of its kind on the Net.

Click to Listen: Commons Series - What do we lose when a language dies?