Kresta in the Afternoon – January 14, 2010 – Hour 1

Kresta in the Afternoon – January 14, 2010 – Hour 1

• Description:

  First Topic – Questioning the Veil: Open Letters to Muslim Women

  Nicolas Sarkozy last night threw his weight behind moves to ban the full Islamic veil in France, calling for an "unambiguous" parliamentary resolution against an item of clothing he said was "not welcome" in a country which valued sexual equality. The president, who had shied away from speaking on the issue recently, used his new year's speech to express his desire for a move against face-covering veils. Marnia Lazreg is the author of Questioning the Veil, a discussion of the infamous piece of cloth that is different from most other treatises on the issue. It is personal and passionate. . . . As such, it is a highly relevant intervention into the debate on the veil. We talk with Marnia.

  Second Topic – A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad

  In an unprecedented work two decades in the making, leading historian Robert Wistrich examines the long and ugly history of anti-Semitism, from the first recorded pogrom in 38 BCE to its shocking and widespread resurgence in the present day. As no other book has done before it, A Lethal Obsession reveals the causes behind this shameful and persistent form of hatred and offers a sobering look at how it may shake and reshape the world in years to come. Moving seamlessly through centuries of war and dissidence, he powerfully portrays the creation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, to modern Islamofacism.