The Kurdish diaspora, Honduran problems behind border crisis, and the Mustard Seed

Various Kurdish fighters, e.g. Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from Iraq, Turkey and Syria, have helped in rescue efforts of the Yazadi minority and in defending Iraqi Kurdistan. Recent events in Iraq have opened new doors for the Kurds, but also revealed longstanding feuds. We’ll talk about Kurdish geopolitics with Ali Ezzatyar. He’s of Iranian Kurdish origin and is a lawyer and executive director of the University of California Berkeley Program on Entrepreneurship and Development in the Middle East.
And, the recent killing of American photojournalist, James Foley, was a shock to many Americans, but imagine if journalists inside America, not covering war zones, were disappeared or killed on a regular basis for simply doing their jobs. In Honduras, seven journalists have been killed so far in 2014. We’ll talk with Laura Raymond, Advocacy Program Manager for International Human Rights at the Center for Constitutional Rights. She’ll tell us how the impunity to murder journalists and activists in Honduras is connected to U.S. policy and issues like the child migrant crisis.
Then, Judy Kohl grew up in a missionary family in the Belgian Congo. When the Belgian government was overthrown, her family was forced to flee to Kenya, where she spent a lot of her childhood. It was those times that developed Judy’s sense of social justice and giving back. She eventually created The Mustard Seed, a Lake Forest, IL shop dedicated to fair trade. They declare also that they’re “committed to donating its profits to organizations that help empower women and children,” especially those stricken with HIV/AIDS. Judy will tell us about the importance of fair trade and how witnessing history as a child changed her life.

(photo: In this May 8, 2013 file photo provided by pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency, rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, are seen in Turkey close to the border with Iraq, heading to their bases in northern Iraq. (AP Photo/Firat News Agency))