State of Power
138 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago -Let us introduce you to some of the fascinating people we work with to help you make sense of the world’s most complex challenges. In this podcast we share our research, explore alternatives to the status quo and give a platform to scholars and activists who are at the forefront of the fight against the current neoliberal order. We believe there are alternatives to this world and hope you do too.
Homepage Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
S4 Ep7: Building a Just Energy Transition in an Age of Corporate and Imperial Power (Nick Buxton in Conversation with Thea Riofrancos, Ozzi Warwick, and Timothy Mitchell)
February 21, 2024 11:00 - 1 hour - 73.8 MBThe fossil fuel based energy system has shaped capitalism and our geopolitical order. On the 50th year of TNI's existence, the State of Power report unveils the corporate and financial actors that underpin this order, the dangers of an unjust energy transition, lessons for movements of resistance, and the possibilities for transformative change. How can we build a Just energy transition in the age of corporate and imperial power? In today’s episode, a special accompaniment to the 12th Ann...
Breaking Big Pharma and Big Tech, Global Debt and Race Politics, and the End of Borders: In Conversation with Arun Kundnani
June 30, 2023 14:01 - 45 minutes - 42 MBEven a global crisis can provide opportunities for fairer, freer and better ways of organising our world. But too often they can simply become moments to further entrench power, hegemony and undue influence. Unfortunately, as history has demonstrated, global policy making has often shifted in undesirable directions because those in power use crises to push their own interests. Some commentators have made comparisons between the global impact of 911 on public policy, and the impact of the C...
S4 Ep6: Ecofeminism 2: Towards an Ecofeminist Energy Future. (Lavinia Steinfort in Conversation with Shannon Bell, Cara Daggett, and Christine Labuski) )
May 25, 2023 13:30 - 52 minutes - 47.9 MBEnergy is currently produced and consumed based on sexist, racist and classist power relations that favour the pursuit of private profits at the expense of the common good. Extractivist oligopolies and corporatised politics have imposed humiliating austerity measures, privatisations of public services, and excessive and growing socio-economic inequality, displacement and dispossession, and environmental destruction. These processes drive skyrocketing levels of energy poverty and a worsening...
S4 Ep5: Ecofeminism 1: A Powerful Vision (Lavinia Steinfort in Conversation with Dr. Vandana Shiva)
May 25, 2023 13:30 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBIn 1973, a group of women from Mandal village in the Himalayas in India “hugged” trees to prevent them from being felled. When the loggers came, the women, led by Gaura Devi, surrounded the trees and chanted: “This forest is our mother’s home; we will protect it with all our might”. This was the beginning of what came to be known as the Chipko movement, which put a spotlight on ecofeminism. Consequently, when many people hear the term ecofeminism, it is the image of those women hugging the...
S4 Ep4: Why We Need to Abolish Borders: Arun Kundnani in Conversation with Harsha Walia
April 12, 2023 12:32 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBBorders uphold a global system of apartheid—and we should demand nothing less than their abolition. In this interview, activist and writer Harsha Walia lays out how borders and citizenship maintain colonial axes of power. From Fortress Europe outsourcing border control far into the African continent in exchange for aid, to Canada securing the availability of cheap farm workers through its selective immigration system, she demonstrates how capitalism and border regimes feed off of each other....
S4 Ep3: Why we need to break Big Pharma's Power before the next Pandemic hits (Arun Kundnani in Conversation with Mohga Kamal-Yanni)
February 23, 2023 09:30 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBHow is it that drug companies can make huge profits from vaccines while people in the global south die from lack of access to medical care? How does the global regime of intellectual property rights enable this inequality? And what is the role of Bill Gates in defending this system? In this interview, Dr. Mohga Kamal-Yanni argues that vaccine inequality is not a market but a policy failure. From the HIV crisis in the early 2000s to the recent pandemic, the public has repeatedly shouldered ...
S4 Ep2: Seizing the Means of Computation – How Popular Movements Can Topple Big Tech Monopolies: In Conversation with Cory Doctorow
February 08, 2023 11:26 - 1 hour - 60.9 MBAn influential group of big technology corporations, commonly referred to as Big Tech has concentrated vast economic power with the collusion of states, which has resulted in expanded surveillance, spiraling disinformation and weakened workers' rights. TNI’s 11th flagship State of Power report exposes the actors, the strategies and the implications of this digital power grab, and shares ideas on how movements might bring technology back under popular control. Our guest on the podcast is C...
S4 Ep1: Will There Be Another Debt Crisis? Current Economic Challenges Facing the Global South: Arun Kundnani in Conversation with Jomo Kwame Sundaram
January 26, 2023 10:30 - 42 minutes - 39.5 MBWhat are the economic challenges facing the Global South post-pandemic? What role have global financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF played in worsening the economic situation for poorer countries? And what economic alternatives might exist? In this interview, Jomo Kwame Sundaram shines a light on the effects that decades of liberalisation policy have had on countries in the global South, including deindustrialisation, food insecurity, and another looming debt crisis. He arg...
S3 Ep15: How the World’s Tax Havens became the Data Centres for the Digital Economy (In conversation with Sofia Scassera)
November 23, 2022 23:26 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBAs the various tax avoidance scandals such as the Panama papers, Paradise papers and Pandora papers have shown, tax havens are some of the most important instruments for reproducing social inequalities. The wealthy use countries with favourable laws to store their wealth, safely and away from public scrutiny. But tax havens are becoming an even bigger problem for social equity as the global economy becomes more and more digital. Big Data, generated by all of us all over the world through...
S3 Ep14: Just Transition in North Africa (In Conversation with Hamza Hamouchene)
November 03, 2022 08:00 - 43 minutes - 40 MBThe environmental and social effects of the industrial capitalist system have long been obvious to marginalised communities forced to live in the garbage dumps of production while their resources are pillaged for raw materials. However, today, the systemic effects are increasingly visible to all. It’s clear, to save humanity and complex life on our precious planet, we need a major course change. If we’re to survive, we need to figure out how to leave fossil fuels in the ground, and how to...
S3 Ep13: The not so hidden cost to “Mega” Energy deals : the Energy charter Treaty in West Africa (Nigeria)
October 05, 2022 10:30 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MBNigeria has a terrible history with international oil companies like Shell, having a hard time getting compensation for environmental damage. Even with some legal wins, like when the Hague Court of Appeals found Shell Nigeria liable for damages from pipeline leaks in the villages of Oruma and Goi, the country is still a long way from achieving true justice. To add salt to the injury, the violators have themselves gone on to sue Nigeria, sometimes using domestic law, but in the greater numbe...
S3 Ep12: The not-so-hidden cost to “mega” energy deals : the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) in East Africa (in conversation with Olivia Costa and Brenda Akankunda)
September 12, 2022 07:30 - 43 minutes - 40 MBLack of access to modern energy services remains a major constraint to economic development in many regions, and perhaps in Africa most of all. According to the Africa development Bank, only 40 percent of the continent’s people have regular access to electricity. African governments are trying to expand their capacity to provide energy to their citizens, and this has seen a proliferation of “mega energy deals”, where governments sign deals investors, usually foreign, who pledge to work with...
S3 Ep11: Why anti-Asian racism is on the rise in the US: Arun Kundnani in Conversation with Tobitha Chow
August 22, 2022 10:30 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBWhy are US-China relations deteriorating? What are the impacts of growing anti-Asian racism on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) living in the US? Will the new Cold War with China replace the US War on Terror? In this interview, Tobita Chow argues that the rise of China as an economic power has become a clear threat to US hegemony. While the pandemic served as a catalyst for anti-Asian racism, it was not the root cause: Increasingly hostile foreign policy towards China leads to in...
S3 Ep10: India - How the government's pandemic response caused more deaths: Arun Kundnani in Conversation with Sulakshana Nandi
July 21, 2022 10:00 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBWhy did the pandemic spiral out of control in India? Why did some states see many more people dying than others? The central government's authoritarian measures, badly planned lockdowns, structural inequality and many forms of discrimination drastically increased the death toll, argues Sulakshana Nandi in this interview. She discusses India's unequal vaccination rollout and the roles of the public and private healthcare sector in pandemic management. Finally, she explains what a better healt...
S3 Ep9: How Powerful Pharmaceutical Companies Shaped the Response to the Pandemic: Arun Kundnani in Conversation with Harris Gleckman
June 23, 2022 09:42 - 43 minutes - 40.2 MBDuring the pandemic, the World Health Organisation and governments took a back seat and power was centred on corporate interests. Health was viewed not as a right or a necessity, but as a product to be marketed and sold. Even in the midst of a global health emergency, companies treated the ill and the vulnerable as consumers and vaccines as commodities, setting prices and production rates that maximise profit. How has this happened and what, if any, are the alternatives? Harris Gleckman ...
S3 Ep8: The Case for Community Supported Fisheries (Mads Barbesgaard in Conversation with Thibault Josse)
June 16, 2022 09:30 - 49 minutes - 45.1 MBNew generations of technologically advanced, hyper efficient industrial vessels, have gotten too good at fishing. This limited number of vessels has a massive impact on the ocean. Fish stocks have largely declined since the 1980s, but not all fishers contribute to the problem to the same extent, nor are all fishing livelihoods impacted to the same degree. The crisis of overfishing, fuelled in large part by a small number of industrial vessels, is threatening the livelihoods of coastal commun...
S3 Ep7: Capitalism and the Sea ( Mads Barbesgaard in Conversation with Liam Campling and Alex Colás)
June 03, 2022 08:30 - 57 minutes - 53 MBAside from occasionally popping up as a topic, for example in relation to plastics, oil-spills, or occasional references to melting glaciers, the oceans are often a "forgotten space" for many otherwise inspiring social movements. But the oceans have had a central and changing role across different moments. The global ocean has through the centuries served as a trade route, strategic space, fish bank and supply chain for the modern capitalist economy. While sea beds are drilled for their fos...
S3 Ep6: How Big Tech captured our public health system: Arun Kundnani in Conversation with Seda Gürses
May 19, 2022 09:45 - 49 minutes - 45 MBThe privatisation of public services is a long-standing global trend. But in the wake of the pandemic and through the introduction of contact tracing apps, Big Tech has gone one step further: Large corporations like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are now set to control the very infrastructure that underlies our public health system. In this eye-opening discussion, Arun Kundnani interviews Dr Seda Gürses about the dangers of a system in which we depend on profit-oriented companies for receivin...
S3 Ep5: The Problem with Global Trade 3. Investment Protection (In conversation with Luciana Ghiotto)
May 12, 2022 08:30 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MBMany poor countries sign trade agreements with the desperate hope of attracting investment from their wealthy counterparts. However, these agreements, or treaties, tend to have some very problematic clauses, which often lead to trouble down the road. Investors have used these treaties to sue countries for any actions, such as changes in policy, that they perceive to be a threat to their projected profits. And they don’t sue in the national courts either, but in a special parallel system that...
S3 Ep4: The Problem with Global Trade 2. The World Trade Organization (In conversation with Alexandra Strickner)
April 29, 2022 08:30 - 45 minutes - 41.8 MBFor a while now, the mantra “trade not aid” has dictated how the overdeveloped countries of the Global North engage with their less wealthy counterparts. The logic being that trade is more dignified than aid, and leads to longer lasting change. However, to anyone who has been paying attention, the way global trade is set up may actually be one of the reasons these countries remain poor. The playing field is far from level, and there are multiple mechanisms that work in concert to ensure it ...
S3 Ep3: The Problem with Global Trade 1. Entrenching Inequality (in conversation with Grieve Chelwa)
April 14, 2022 15:10 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBFor a while now, the mantra “trade not aid” has dictated how the overdeveloped countries of the Global North engage with their less wealthy counterparts. The logic being that trade is more dignified than aid, and leads to longer lasting change. However, to anyone who has been paying attention, the way global trade is set up may actually be one of the reasons these countries remain poor. The playing field is far from level, and there are multiple mechanisms that work in concert to ensure it...
S2 Ep35: Myanmar's fight for democracy: In conversation with Sai Sam Kham
March 31, 2022 12:00 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBOn Monday, 1 February, Myanmar’s military ended the country's decade-long experiment with democracy by launching a coup against the most popular political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and its leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Now Myanmar’s people are on the streets, demanding the release of their leaders and the restoration of the 2020 election results. Many are also calling for the country’s 2008 constitution to be annulled and rewritten, as it explicitly acknowledges th...
S3 Ep2: Ukraine: A Call for Solidarity (In Conversation with Denys Gorbach and Denis Pilash)
March 10, 2022 09:30 - 40 minutes - 37 MBOn 24 February 2022, to considerable shock, Russia launched a large scale invasion of Ukraine. This was a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict that has been ongoing, particularly since 2014. In this podcast we want to find out what Ukrainians involved in its social movements are thinking about the conflict. Where do they think the war is going? What are their thoughts about the apparent rifts in the global left response? What should solidarity look like? The State of Power podc...
S3 Ep1: How elites use the pandemic to secure their power: Arun Kundnani in Conversation with Eda Seyhan
February 01, 2022 13:30 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBGovernments around the world have used the pandemic as an excuse to expand their powers. Populations have been divided on the basis of race and class into those deserving of protection and those perceived as risky and to be controlled. Migrants, refugees, precarious workers, and racialized groups have faced vulnerability and repression. Many Western liberals, nevertheless, seem to wish for governments to be tougher in enforcing measures. In this fascinating discussion, Eda Seyhan lays out ...
S2 Ep51: Who feels secure? Racial capitalism and global security: Arun Kundnani in conversation with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
November 17, 2021 12:00 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBWhen the word security is mentioned, images of men in uniform, perhaps carrying guns and in armoured cars, come to mind. How did we end up in a place where security is understood in the narrow terms of policing, and inevitably leads to racism? Why does this kind of security fail to make a large part of the population feel safer? And can we imagine a society where my security is not the opposite of your security? In this thought-provoking conversation, Arun Kundnani speaks with Olúfẹ́mi O. T...
S2 Ep50: A Few Ideas That Could Save the Planet. (In Conversation with TNI)
November 03, 2021 11:30 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBWe are in a climate crisis. About this there seems to be broad consensus. But, there is more and more divergence around what must be done to stop it. As COP26 came around, we’ve seen more and more supposed solutions to the Climate crisis gaining attention. But a closer look reveals that many of the ideas proffered as ways out of the climate emergency are merely duds, fancy ways to give the impression of progress while business continues as usual. Just as we cannot expect mosquitoes to cur...
49: Geo-politics and Revolutionary Change: The Case of Lebanon (In Conversation with Hicham Safieddine)
October 20, 2021 14:30 - 1 hour - 72.7 MBFor the last two years, Lebanon has been witnessing an acute multi-dimensional crisis that has left more than half the population living below the poverty line. Many families are struggling to survive. Some say that the massive economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the August 2020 Beirut explosions and instability have all combined to create conditions even worse than they were during the 1975-1990 civil war. In October 2019, Lebanon also saw a mass uprising, rejecting corruption and s...
S2 Ep49: Geo-politics and Revolutionary Change: The Case of Lebanon (In Conversation with Hicham Safieddine)
October 20, 2021 14:30 - 1 hour - 72.7 MBFor the last two years, Lebanon has been witnessing an acute multi-dimensional crisis that has left more than half the population living below the poverty line. Many families are struggling to survive. Some say that the massive economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the August 2020 Beirut explosions and instability have all combined to create conditions even worse than they were during the 1975-1990 civil war. In October 2019, Lebanon also saw a mass uprising, rejecting corruption and s...
S2 Ep48: Resisting the Sengwa Coal Power Plant in Zimbabwe: In Conversation with Melania Chiponda
September 22, 2021 12:30 - 44 minutes - 41 MBThe Tonga people of Zimbabwe and Zambia, who call themselves the river people, speak of the pain of being separated from their relatives, who all of a sudden were made foreigners, stuck on the opposite side of a dam, in another country. All this, so that a massive dam, the largest man-made lake in Africa, could be built. The Kariba dam, which has one of the biggest hydropower stations in Africa, came at a great price. Fast-forward just one generation later, in a case of history repeating ...
48: Resisting the Sengwa Coal Power Plant in Zimbabwe: In Conversation with Melania Chiponda
September 22, 2021 12:30 - 44 minutes - 41 MBThe Tonga people of Zimbabwe and Zambia, who call themselves the river people, speak of the pain of being separated from their relatives, who all of a sudden were made foreigners, stuck on the opposite side of a dam, in another country. All this, so that a massive dam, the largest man-made lake in Africa, could be built. The Kariba dam, which has one of the biggest hydropower stations in Africa, came at a great price. Fast-forward just one generation later, in a case of history repeating ...
S2 Ep47: The Racist Roots of the War on Terror: Arun Kundnani in conversation with Deepa Kumar
September 10, 2021 07:00 - 51 minutes - 47 MBTwenty years on, America has chaotically pulled out of the war in Afghanistan with nothing much to show for it, and the war on terror appears to have achieved very little, except to cause more terror and to bring America’s violence to more parts of the world. In this fascinating conversation, Arun Kundnani interviews Deepa Kumar, who traces the longer historical roots of the War on Terror and how it racialised and targeted Arab and Muslim communities well before 9/11. Deepa Kumar is th...
47: The Racist Roots of the War on Terror: Arun Kundnani in conversation with Deepa Kumar
September 10, 2021 07:00 - 51 minutes - 47 MBTwenty years on, America has chaotically pulled out of the war in Afghanistan with nothing much to show for it, and the war on terror appears to have achieved very little, except to cause more terror and to bring America’s violence to more parts of the world. In this fascinating conversation, Arun Kundnani interviews Deepa Kumar, who traces the longer historical roots of the War on Terror and how it racialised and targeted Arab and Muslim communities well before 9/11. Deepa Kumar is th...
S2 Ep46: Tunisia's "Coup not Coup": In Conversation with Heythem Guesmi
August 27, 2021 08:30 - 1 hour - 59 MBAbout a decade ago, Tunisia was the birthplace of the so-called Arab spring, when Tunisians toppled the decades long dictator Ben Ali, heralding momentous changes across North Africa and beyond. To some extent, the Tunisian experience seems to be an exception in the region, because the country did not descend into the chaos and violence that have affected its neighboring countries since. However, many argue that the popular aspirations of the Tunisian people have been subverted and their ...
46: Tunisia's "Coup not Coup": In Conversation with Heythem Guesmi
August 27, 2021 08:30 - 1 hour - 59 MBAbout a decade ago, Tunisia was the birthplace of the so-called Arab spring, when Tunisians toppled the decades long dictator Ben Ali, heralding momentous changes across North Africa and beyond. To some extent, the Tunisian experience seems to be an exception in the region, because the country did not descend into the chaos and violence that have affected its neighboring countries since. However, many argue that the popular aspirations of the Tunisian people have been subverted and their ...
S2 Ep45: What makes a Revolution? The Arab Uprisings a Decade on: In Conversation with Jamie Allinson.
August 04, 2021 09:40 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MBAbout a decade ago, parts of the Arab world experienced great upheaval. The events that took place, and which continue to unfold to the present day, are not easily explained. In fact, to this day, and in light of subsequent uprisings, there is an ongoing attempt to fully understand what it is exactly that happened during what has been called the Arab Spring. Can these events be called revolutions? What is a revolution, and how does one determine whether it is successful or not? To tackle t...
45: What makes a Revolution? The Arab Uprisings a Decade on: In Conversation with Jamie Allinson.
August 04, 2021 09:40 - 57 minutes - 52.3 MBAbout a decade ago, parts of the Arab world experienced great upheaval. The events that took place, and which continue to unfold to the present day, are not easily explained. In fact, to this day, and in light of subsequent uprisings, there is an ongoing attempt to fully understand what it is exactly that happened during what has been called the Arab Spring. Can these events be called revolutions? What is a revolution, and how does one determine whether it is successful or not? To tackle t...
44: Defending the Right to Food Sovereignty: In Conversation with Paula Gioia
July 26, 2021 09:30 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBThe Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated the already existing deep structural problems of corporate and increasingly globalized food systems. A radical, human rights-based and agroecological transformation of food systems is more urgent than ever. As the United Nations gears itself to hold the 2021 version of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), activists and analysts are sounding the alarm that this year’s event is not building on the legacy of past World Food Summits, which resulted in the cre...
S2 Ep44: Defending the Right to Food Sovereignty: In Conversation with Paula Gioia
July 26, 2021 09:30 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBThe Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated the already existing deep structural problems of corporate and increasingly globalized food systems. A radical, human rights-based and agroecological transformation of food systems is more urgent than ever. As the United Nations gears itself to hold the 2021 version of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), activists and analysts are sounding the alarm that this year’s event is not building on the legacy of past World Food Summits, which resulted in the cre...
S2 Ep43: The Energy Transition Myth: In conversation with Sean Sweeney
July 15, 2021 09:31 - 45 minutes - 41.7 MBIf you listen to the news and read the papers, it would be easy to be convinced that the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon future energy system is “already underway”. Advocates say that renewable energy is already cost-competitive - with costs of generation falling below that of fossil fuels. According to them, the transition is all but "inevitable". Yes, we may still be using fossil fuels, but only as a temporary measure as we all move to cleaner energy. We are probably past peak u...
43: The Energy Transition Myth: In conversation with Sean Sweeney
July 15, 2021 09:31 - 45 minutes - 41.7 MBIf you listen to the news and read the papers, it would be easy to be convinced that the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon future energy system is “already underway”. Advocates say that renewable energy is already cost-competitive - with costs of generation falling below that of fossil fuels. According to them, the transition is all but "inevitable". Yes, we may still be using fossil fuels, but only as a temporary measure as we all move to cleaner energy. We are probably past peak u...
S2 Ep42: The problem with COVAX: In conversation with Harris Gleckman.
May 27, 2021 09:30 - 46 minutes - 43 MBFrom a human rights perspective, the global vaccine distribution problem would for example aim to get the COVID vaccine to communities and peoples in the Global South quickly, safely, at low or no cost without political-, class- or gender-discrimination. It would lead toward a solution that combines a WTO waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-related products and processes, maybe a General Assembly declaration that health is a global public good, a multilateral global humanitarian...
42: The problem with COVAX: In conversation with Harris Gleckman.
May 27, 2021 09:30 - 46 minutes - 43 MBFrom a human rights perspective, the global vaccine distribution problem would for example aim to get the COVID vaccine to communities and peoples in the Global South quickly, safely, at low or no cost without political-, class- or gender-discrimination. It would lead toward a solution that combines a WTO waiver of intellectual property rights for COVID-related products and processes, maybe a General Assembly declaration that health is a global public good, a multilateral global humanitarian...
S2 Ep41: Becoming Black: Coercive power, the state and racism in a time of crisis (In conversation with Olúfémi Táíwò and Achille Mbembe)
May 17, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBThe unprecedented movement to #defundthepolice has brought a critical debate about the role of a powerful coercive state agency into the mainstream of political discussion. It has raised the question about how the police functions everywhere and whose interests they serve. But the police are not the only coercive arm of the state. What about the military, homeland security, prisons, the intelligence agencies? Isn’t it time to put those agencies also under the spotlight and examine whose...
41: Becoming Black: Coercive power, the state and racism in a time of crisis (In conversation with Olúfémi Táíwò and Achille Mbembe)
May 17, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBThe unprecedented movement to #defundthepolice has brought a critical debate about the role of a powerful coercive state agency into the mainstream of political discussion. It has raised the question about how the police functions everywhere and whose interests they serve. But the police are not the only coercive arm of the state. What about the military, homeland security, prisons, the intelligence agencies? Isn’t it time to put those agencies also under the spotlight and examine whose...
S2 Ep40: Africa's Last Colonial Currency : In conversation with Ndongo Samba Sylla
May 05, 2021 12:17 - 49 minutes - 45.1 MBDespite the political and institutional changes that occurred with Africa's decolonisation process in the second half of the 20th century, many colonial constructs remain to this very day. One of the most obvious and egregious symbols of these continuities is no doubt the CFA franc. The acronym of this currency created in 1945 by the French provisional government originally stood for franc of the French colonies in Africa. It still circulates in eight countries in West Africa and six countri...
40: Africa's Last Colonial Currency : In conversation with Ndongo Samba Sylla
May 05, 2021 12:17 - 49 minutes - 45.1 MBDespite the political and institutional changes that occurred with Africa's decolonisation process in the second half of the 20th century, many colonial constructs remain to this very day. One of the most obvious and egregious symbols of these continuities is no doubt the CFA franc. The acronym of this currency created in 1945 by the French provisional government originally stood for franc of the French colonies in Africa. It still circulates in eight countries in West Africa and six countri...
S2 Ep39: Wealth and Power 3. The New Connected World (with Roger Van Zwanenberg)
April 21, 2021 13:00 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBThe present reeks of the past. The world we live in is not the result of some natural law. It was created by people, like you and I, humans who walked, breathed, ate and drank. The contemporary world is a result of people making decisions, decisions that would give them more power, access to more wealth, and grant them the influence to safeguard their wealth and power. If they could make it, you and I can unmake it. This is the third and final episode of our three part series, in which we ...
39: Wealth and Power 3. The New Connected World (with Roger Van Zwanenberg)
April 21, 2021 13:00 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBThe present reeks of the past. The world we live in is not the result of some natural law. It was created by people, like you and I, humans who walked, breathed, ate and drank. The contemporary world is a result of people making decisions, decisions that would give them more power, access to more wealth, and grant them the influence to safeguard their wealth and power. If they could make it, you and I can unmake it. This is the third and final episode of our three part series, in which we ...
S2 Ep38: Forward to the land: A conversation with European Peasant Farmers.
April 16, 2021 05:58 - 1 hour - 65.5 MB17 April is the “International Day of Peasant Struggles”. One may be inclined to think that such a day has very little significance for places like Europe and other parts of the developed world, but one would be mistaken. Struggles over farmland are a very real reality in Europe, although the nature of these struggles differ across the continent, with main differences being between Eastern and Western Europe. There are threats of land grabbing by large transnational companies and investo...
38: Forward to the land: A conversation with European Peasant Farmers.
April 16, 2021 05:58 - 1 hour - 65.5 MB17 April is the “International Day of Peasant Struggles”. One may be inclined to think that such a day has very little significance for places like Europe and other parts of the developed world, but one would be mistaken. Struggles over farmland are a very real reality in Europe, although the nature of these struggles differ across the continent, with main differences being between Eastern and Western Europe. There are threats of land grabbing by large transnational companies and investo...