January 27-31, 2020, is Holocaust Remembrance Week.

Thorne Dreyer's guest on Rag Radio is Elliott Naishtat. Naishtat -- a progressive Democrat who held the District 49 seat in the Texas House of Representatives from January 1991 to January 2017 -- is an Austin-based member of the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission.   The mission of the Holocaust Commission is "to bring awareness of the Holocaust and other genocides to Texas students, educators, and the general public by ensuring availability of resources, and in doing so imbue in individuals a sense of responsibility to uphold human value and inspire citizens in the prevention of future atrocities." January 27-31, 2020, is Holocaust Remembrance Week. The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27 -- the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau -- as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides. During his work in the Texas State Legislature, Elliott Naishtat focused on health and human services issues, particularly the needs of low-and moderate-income people. He was a founding board member of the House Progressive Caucus. He was reelected 12 times and passed 330 bills during his 26-year career in the Texas House. NEXT WEEK ON RAG RADIO: January 31, 2020, 2-3 p.m. (CT): John A. Moretta, Author of "Political Hippies and Hip Politicos: Counterculture Alliance and Cultural Radicalism in 1960s Austin, Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, January 2020.

Rag Radio is produced in the studios of KOOP-91.7 FM -- an all-volunteer, cooperatively-run, solar-powered community radio station in Austin, Texas -- in association with The Rag Blog and the New Journalism Project. Rag Radio can be heard on: KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin, Friday, 2-3 p.m. (CT) and streamed here, WFTE 90.3-FM in Mt. Cobb, PA & 105.7-FM in Scranton, PA, Sunday, 10-11 a.m. (ET) and streamed here, KPFT HD-3 90.1 (Pacifica Radio) in Houston, Wednesday, 1-2 p.m. (CT) and streamed here. KKRN 88.5-FM in Round Mountain, CA, Mondays, 5:30-6:30 a.m. (PT), and streamed here. WALHRadio.com in Wilmington, OH. Streamed Thursdays at 8 p.m. and midnight (ET) here. RADIO FREE AMERICA. Streamed live here. VETERANS TODAY website. Featured podcast. Listen here anytime after posting. INTERNET ARCHIVE. Listen to Rag Radio podcasts here. THE RAG BLOG. Find links to all Rag Radio podcasts at the Rag Radio page. AUDIOPORT.ORG. For Pacifica stations and Pacifica affiliates only: Here. RAG RADIO ARCHIVES   Rag Radio Podcast    Dr. Banafsheh Madaninejad & Dr. Roy Casagranda    'The U.S.' Bizarre Obsession with Iran' Featured on Rag Radio are Dr. Roy Casagranda and Dr. Banafsheh Madaninejad and the topic is "Scorned Love: The U.S.' Bizarre Obsession with Iran." Roy Casagranda is Professor of Government at Austin Community College and serves as a Middle East analyst for the Austin ABC affiliate KVUE, and FOX affiliate, Fox 7. Banafsheh Madaninejad is a scholar-activist of Islamic Studies, Feminist Studies and Critical Race Theory who has taught at the University of Texas at Austin and elsewhere.  Listen to the podcast of this show. Photo by Alan Pogue Rag Radio Host and producer: Thorne Dreyer Co-producer and engineer: Tracey Schultz Contact us at ragradio@koop.org  Rag Radio features hour-long in-depth interviews and discussion about progressive politics, culture, and history. Guests include newsmakers, artists, leading thinkers, and public figures -- from Austin, Texas, and around the world. Host Thorne Dreyer was a founding editor of Austin's historic Sixties underground newspaper, The Rag, a founding editor of Space City! in Houston, an editor at LNS in New York, and a former station manager of KPFT-FM (Pacifica) in Houston. He now edits The Rag Blog and is on the board of directors of the New Journalism Project. The Rag Radio team: Thorne Dreyer, Tracey Schulz, Alice Embree, Roger Baker, Suzy Shelor, Glenn Smith, and Roy Casagranda. Celebrating The Rag: Austin's Iconic Underground Newspaper Edited by Thorne Dreyer,  Alice Embree & Richard Croxdale "A raucous, absorbing excursion back to the 1960s and '70s."  --Kirkus Reviews   Learn more about it here.  Buy it here.