Top 10 Worldfocus Radio Shows of 2009
I produce Worldfocus Radio.
Worldfocus presents radio highlights from our weekly radio show — powered by BlogTalkRadio — which covers underreported stories from around the world.
From entrepreneurship in Ethiopia and Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war to reverse brain drain in China and Baha’is in modern Iran, listen to the most popular shows from 2009:
Worldfocus: Gays in Jamaica worship in underground church
I was the correspondent on this video story, which aired on Worldfocus.
Jamaica is often said to hold the world record for the most churches per square mile. There’s a public place of worship for almost everyone. Unless you’re gay. If you are, you must worship in secret.
Correspondent Lisa Biagiotti, producer Micah Fink and director of photography Gabrielle Weiss report on the secret underground church that is welcoming gay men and women to practice their faith. Reverend Robert Griffin, an American priest, leads the secret church and believes religion is at the heart of Jamaica culture of homophobia and the time has come to reinterpret the Bible for modern times.
For more information on homophobia and HIV in Jamaica, visit The Glass Closet, a multimedia project produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Worldfocus Radio: Baha’i faith and modern Iran
I produced this online radio show for Worldfocus.org.
Iran arrested seven leaders of the religious Baha’i community last year, charging them with espionage and alleging that the five men and two women are spies for Israel. Baha’i headquarters are located in Israel.
Iranian leaders view the religion as heresy and it has been banned since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Many followers of the Baha’i faith in Iran have been arrested, imprisoned or executed.
The Baha’i faith is a monotheistic religion with origins in 19th-century Iran. Baha’is are considered Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, with about 300,000 members.
The U.S. has condemned Iran for its persecution of the Baha’is, calling the detainment of religious leaders “baseless.”
Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the background and history of the Baha’i faith, religious persecution in Iran and the arrest and forthcoming trial of the seven Baha’i leaders.
Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:
Dwight Bashir is a senior advisor for the Middle East at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Mr. Bashir is a specialist in ethnic and religious conflict and preventive diplomacy. He has traveled widely in Europe, the Middle East and West Africa and has lectured and published on a wide array of topics in international affairs, including human rights, religious extremism and U.S. foreign policy.
Kit Bigelow is the director of external affairs for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the U.S. Since 1985, she has represented the National Spiritual Assembly in the promotion and protection of human rights, including religious freedom, the rights of women, U.S. ratification of United Nations human rights treaties and the elimination of racism. She advocates on these issues at the White House, the State Department, the Congress and the U.N. She has testified before Congress on the oppression of the Bahá’ís in Iran and of Egypt.
Trita Parsi is the founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and an expert on U.S.-Iranian relations, Iranian politics and the balance of power in the Middle East. He is the author of “Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States” and an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute. He was born in Iran and has followed Middle East politics through work in the field and experience on Capitol Hill and at the United Nations.
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