Fragility and Humanity - Speaking of Faith

At Speaking of Faith Krista Tippett spoke with geo-physicist and thinker Xavier Le Pichon. This is a wonderful podcast that gives but an indication to a fascinating conversation that can also be heard in full (unedited interview with Le Pichon - mp3 download).

If you decide you will listen to the podcast or the complete interview, you may want to take this from my experience: Quite important is the concept of fragility, which, for some reason, is pronounced by Tippett as fergility. It may sound silly, but it took me through half the program to finally figure this out.

The importance of fragility is this. It is Le Pinchon's view (and discovery) that contrary to natural instincts, humanity puts fragility in the center. It doesn't leave the weak behind, but rather makes them important to be treated - provided we talk of the humane side of humanity of course. This is elevating, in his opinion, because by taking in the weak in society, we allow ourselves to learn from the weak. It is his belief we always learn from each other, we can only learn in community. And by not driving away the vulnerable and value only on merit, we actually enrich ourselves. Moreover, it is now that our knowledge and technology has truly made is into one humanity, we have the chance to fully enjoy this togetherness. Provided we take the chance of course.

More Speaking of Faith:
The Sunni-Shia divide and the future of Islam,
Wangari Maathai,
Rumi,
The story and God,
The Buddha in the world.

Jews in the Hasmonean era - FITJ

From Israelite to Jew is a podcast series by Michael Satlow, which attempts to lay out the history of the Jewish people in the Second Temple period ( about 500 BCE - 100 CE) and their cultural and religious development during that time. The name of the podcast already gives an insight in what is to be learned: the tribes of Israel turned into a ethnicity of Jews. On the resolution at which Satlow has chosen there is a fascinating history that should be interesting to many.

In the previous review we spoke of the Maccabee Uprising and since there were two new installments of the podcast, Hasmonean Kings and Jewish Sectarianism. These are part of a longer stretch that are meant to make us familiar with the intricacies of the Hasmonean and Roman period. The first part is a complicated history of the dynasty and its relationship with both the Hellenist empires and the with the old Israelite traditions.

The second digs deeper into the developments in the religious and cultural divides. The main sects that are treated are the Sadducees, Pharisees and Essenes, but one should keep in mind that these are not necessarily religious sects. They could also be seen as political parties. Also, more sects are at play; Zealots and the followers of Jesus are to be considered. The latter goes to show how interesting this Jewish history could be for Christians: the groundwork is revealed of the cultural setting in which Christianity arose. By all means an exciting part of World History.

More FITJ:
The Maccabee Uprising,
Hellenism,
Jews of the Persian Empire,
The fox and the hedgehog,
Looking for a Persian History podcast.

The Sunni - Shia split on podcasts

The average listener to BBC radio 4's program In Our Time is not expected to know much about Islam and therefore may barely know about the Sunni Shia divide in that religion. In the latest episode the Sunni-Shia split was the subject and in 43 minutes the bare basics were told.

Much is still missing. Host Melvyn Bragg tried to get through to the eventual religious meaning of the divide, but if at all some tip of the iceberg was revealed, somehow, the foucs went to the Shia beliefs. And I wouldn't be surprised if the listener was left in confusion. The podcast followers have a lot more content at their disposal. Content to either replace or complement this last episode of In Our Time.

A very good podcast that takes the divide and places it in a contemporary picture is Speaking of Faith's issue in which host Krista Tippett speaks with Vali Nasr. For a more extensive historic background I'd point everyone to the University of California San Diego. An unfortunate circumstance is that UCSD removes the podcast courses at the end of the semester, but recurring courses that are relevant are: UCSD's MMW3 by Chamberlain, UCSD's MMW 3 by Herbst and MMW 4. MMW3 is the course out of which you will find several lectures apply to the origins of Islam and here you will learn extensively about the origins of the Sunni-Shia divide. Professor Chamberlain has a more theological touch to his teachings and this may serve exactly best here, but overall I find the lectures by Professor Herbst more accessible and commendable in general. In MMW4, the Islamic empire is central in the beginning and the Sunni Ulama will be worked out more, as well as the ongoing repression of Shia Islam.

More In Our Time:
Revenge Tragedy,
The Augustan Age,
The trial of king Charles I,
St. Paul,
Whale evolution.

Naomi Klein on Media Matters

The podcast Media Matters with Bob McChesney is political commentary radio program with (frequently) listeners calling in. The most recent edition had Canadian writer and social critic Naomi Klein in the studio.

Klein gets the opportunity to voice her fierce criticism of modern free market criticism. As already pointed out in her book 'The shock doctrine' which describes what she terms 'Disaster Capitalism' - money making thrives with crises. In her book, the disaster caused by hurricane Katrina is used as an example. In the studio, she goes to show how the current financial disaster works just likewise. A private market crisis is being transformed into a public crisis with all the bail out programs.

What this boils down to is that the capitalists do not have to pay for their mistakes, but manage to pass the hot potato through to the government. That means the tax payer, the public budget and eventually the weakest pay the price. And rich speculators can go on taking huge risks. And thus, capitalism, this unrestrained capitalism, thrives by crises. The excitement and expectations about Obama, have obscured this fact in the US, but in other countries, she claims, the injustice is observed more clearly.

More Media Matters:
Noam Chomsky,
Juan Cole,
The Crisis.

More Naomi Klein:
Naomi Klein on Big Ideas.

Alexander Herzen according to Isaiah Berlin

Oxford's podcast of the Isaiah Berlin Centenary (Oxford on iTunesU, iTunes feed, site) contains one lecture about Berlin and several lectures by Berlin himself, recorded in the the 1950's.

One of the lectures is on a Russian writer, Alexander Herzen, about whom I had never heard, I must admit. Berlin turns out to be a great admirer of Herzen and his lecture on the writer is very fascinating. The importance of Herzen is not necessarily as a writer, although Berlin praises his autobiography as one of the great works in Russian literature. Herzen's meaning lies in his vocation as a publicist and political thinker.

Herzen was, according to Berlin, the first to found a liberal newspaper in Russia and as such a pioneer of free press and free speech. This put him in the position to politically choose between the Russian traditional order, the liberalists and the socialists. Herzen swayed back and forth but between liberals and socialists he kept sitting on the fence. And if this is vieed by some as weakness, Berlin praises this as a strength, just as he finds this a strength in the novelist Turgenev. In Turgenev's Fathers and Sons a similar quality is displayed. That is subject for yet another lecture.

More Isaiah Berlin:
Isaiah Berlin on Philosopher's Zone and Oxford,
Moses Hess according to Isaiah Berlin.

Iran in 1953 - Rear Vision

ABC's Rear Vision has dedicated two consecutive programs to Iran because of the unrest that is currently going on. The first was just yesterday with the history of the 1953 coup, which deposed prime minister Mossadegh and made the Shah a puppet of the West.

The program describes in detail how British oil interests were established in Iran. The terms under which the British could dispose of Iran's oil were advantageous to the ridiculous and when Mossadegh was about to nationalize Iran's oil, the Brits came into action. They needed the assistance of the CIA eventually to push Mossadegh out of power, which was not given by Truman at first. Eisenhower became the next president and did approve of the action.

Rear Vision also attempts make clear what came of the success of this coup, making a connection with the revolution in 1979 and the unrest of today. The bottom-line is that the action was a success from the start and backfired in the end. The worst result of it being that the moderate, pro-western stream in Iranian politics was compromised and left the spectrum to be battled between extreme forces such as the Islamists and the communists and possibly also causing the polarization of today.

More Rear Vision:
Coffee,
Fiji.