Hamid Dabashi is an Iranian-American professor at Columbia University. He has authored more than 20 books and has expertise in subject areas including Iran, US foreign policy, the Middle East, identity politics and empire. Dabashi grew up in Ahvaz in Iran, moved to Tehran in the 1970s and then relocated to the USA with his family in 1976. In this interview he speaks about what life was like growing up in an Iran that was ruled by the CIA-backed shah and what it was like experiencing the Iranian revolution from afar, seeing the repressive regime of the Shah being replaced by a repressive theocracy. Dabashi then touches on confronting the US empire and white supremacy as a brown-skinned Muslim in a period when the US has been engaged in wars in Arab and Muslim lands. He recollects his long-standing friendship with the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said and how they as faculty of Columbia University along with other colleagues planted seeds that have blossomed into what have become solidarity protests with the Palestinian national cause on Columbia’s campus, which he describes as a “glorious sight”. Dabashi believes that zionism, white supremacy and any other settler colonial ideology will inevitably be doomed. Hosted by Ashfaaq Carim 00:00 Intro 00:55 Impact of growing up in Iran, two years after Mossadegh was removed by the CIA 04:58 Life in Ahwaz, cosmopolitan family, vodka and Umm Kulthoom 07:49 Was the repression under the shah apparent and June 1963 uprising 10:10 Political discussion inside the Dabashi household 11:10 Going to study undergraduate degree in Tehran in the 1970s 13:20 Getting an education be reading banned books 15:00 The sense of subversiveness in1970s Iran under the Shah 17:30 Gained in translation - learning from anti-colonials around the world 20:08 Immigrating to the USA in 1976 - did you feel a revolution was on the way 24:15 Living in the USA while the Iranian revolution is taking place 26:15 Your own sentiments on the Iranian revolution 28:00 How Khomeini crushed opposition 30:45 Limited media access in the USA to understand the revolution 32:15 What does't the west understand about Iran - immigrants civilising the pallet of the USA 35:00 On becoming more rooted in the USA 37:00 Did you think the Mullahs would still be in charge of Iran for so long 39:00 Edward Said and the exilic condition 40:48 Why would Iran unravel 42:15 How has living inside of empire changed you - 9/11 and the Gulf Wars 45:00 Becoming more conscious of being a muslim after 9/11 48:15 U.S moving away from real politik and into ideological white supremacy 51:00 When BLM took statues down and the racism of European enlightenment 55:00 How has Zionism used white supremacy 59:45 When Hamid Dabashi and Edward Said first tried to do a divestment campaign at Columbia 01:03:00 On being a subversive academic 01:06:00 The importance and diversity of the present protests 01:07:30 Attempts to delegitimise the protests are futile - The NYT should be studied for bias 01:10:30 The juxtaposition of calling out empire while being in the centre of empire 01:12:50 When Edward Said was demonised 01:16:20 Being critical of everything is liberating 01:18:20 What would Edward Said's reaction be to all that is going on 01:22:00 When will we see Palestinian liberation 01:24:30 One state solution is the only solution 01:27:00 The protestors are the moral conscious of the time 01:28:00 Judaism is being liberated from zionism 01:29:14 Who's gonna save humanity from white supremacy
