The State We're In, 3 December 2011. An Iranian doctor and writer on why he fled his beloved homeland, an ex-border patrol agent in America on why he’s now an immigration activist, a non-violent follower of Gandhi whose ashram was bulldozed by Indian authorities and a failed actress in Brazil on how taking a walk changed her life. Comment on the show.
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As British embassy officials flee Iran, we speak to an Iranian man in the UK: Arash Hejazi.
He’s the doctor who tried to rescue Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman who was shot during the 2009 protests in Tehran and became an icon of the struggle for democracy there.
Arash talks to host Jonathan Groubert about living through four decades of tumult in Iran before finally hitting his breaking point.
Main photo: A screen grab from a YouTube video, showing Arash Hejazi (in white shirt) trying to help Neda Agha-Soltan after she was shot in the chest during protests in Tehran, June 20, 2009.
YouTube: Death of Neda (warning: graphic content)
The Gaze of the Gazelle is Arash Hejazi's memoir of growing up and then fleeing Iran.
Samantha Gilbert spent 10 years struggling to make it as an actress in Rio de Janeiro. She didn’t.
Her relationships were turbulent, her drinking was out of control and she was ready to snap.
But then she made a life-changing decision: she went to Spain, to go on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.
‘El Camino’, as the walk is known, delivered the kind of success she never could have imagined (more photos below).
Border patrol
John Randolph thought he’d signed up to a pretty comfortable life as a US border patrol officer.
It was an outdoors job, and came with a nice salary and a chance to speak his favourite language: Spanish. What he hadn’t signed up for was death and duplicity on a regular basis.
But it was only after he retired that he broke his silence (more photos below).
Two Pesos Pobres (song begins 4'18")
As a follower of Gandhi, Himanshu Kumar believes in non-violence. He moved with his wife and children to Dantewada in northeast India to set up an ashram, offering educational, medical and religious services for all comers.
But the government claimed he was a terrorist, and bulldozed his ashram.
He tells Jonathan of his hopes to return there one day.
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thanks for sharing...
Please check out this petition to the Obama Administration to Sanction the Mexican Government until it provides a decent living wage for its own citizens.
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/sanction-mexican-government-until-it-provides-its-own-citizens/tFYRTCnv
Thank you so much to Belinda, Jonathan and RNW for letting me speak about my time working as a US Border Patrol agent.
I now call for the Undocumented in the US to join Occupy Wall Street!
http://twopesos-protestfortheundocumented.blogspot.com/2011/11/combined-...
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