The Take
854 episodes - English - Latest episode: 21 days ago - ★★★★★ - 324 ratingsThe Take is a daily interview-driven international news podcast hosted by award-winning journalist Malika Bilal. Each episode focuses on conversations with journalists and people directly impacted by the news of the day, offering our listeners the context necessary to understand what's in the headlines.
With millions of global listens, it's clear the conversations we're having on The Take are worth hearing. And critics think so too. The show has won the Online Journalism Awards, the Signal Awards, Lovie Awards, and Anthem Awards, among others.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
The miracle worker, the mall cop and broken promises in The Gambia
February 10, 2020 10:30 - 19 minutes - 18.3 MBYahya Jammeh, the Gambian leader with a fantastical belief that he could cure HIV, was replaced in 2016 by Adama Barrow. Plucked from obscurity, he promised to usher in an era of justice. But the country is spiraling into instability, and Gambians have yet to see change. In this episode: Nicolas Haque, Al Jazeera journalist based in Dakar, Senegal. For more: The Gambia clamps down on protests against President Barrow Still reeling from Jammeh years, Gambians wait for justice Connect wit...
Facing climate change in two sinking towns
February 07, 2020 10:30 - 18 minutes - 17.4 MBOn opposite coasts of the U.S., two towns are facing one big problem: They're eroding and sinking. Neither community denies climate change's effects on their vanishing shorelines. But they have very different ideas about how to save their land. In this episode: Heidi Zhou-Castro (@HeidiZhouCastro), Al Jazeera English journalist covering the U.S. For more: Planet SOS: Where will climate refugees go when the tide rises? Climate change in pictures Connect with The Take: Twitter (@AJTheTake...
Life inside the coronavirus quarantine
February 05, 2020 10:30 - 18 minutes - 17.4 MBAlmost 60 million people in China are confined to their cities due to the 2019 novel coronavirus. Al Jazeera's senior cameraman in Beijing, Peng Peng, has been trapped in Hubei province for two weeks. Stuck 1,000 kilometers from home, he shares his story with The Take. In this episode: Peng Peng, Al Jazeera's senior cameraman in Beijing, China. Scott McNabb, a research professor at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Georgia, U.S. For more: Trapped in Hubei: A family und...
No war with Iran — but no peace, either
February 03, 2020 10:30 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MBThe US and Iran have stepped back from the edge of war. But in Iran, which is still facing more than a thousand US sanctions, normal life feels like war. In this episode: Dorsa Jabbari in Tehran, Iran and Lili Ghazian in San Jose, California.
We're back!
January 27, 2020 10:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBThe Take is back — and we want to reintroduce ourselves.
An update — and a new show!
November 29, 2019 12:38 - 3 minutes - 3.02 MBThe Take is returning soon, and in the meantime, we've got something new for you.
Gone till November (then back with much more)
October 04, 2019 04:00 - 1 minute - 1010 KBThe Take turns a year old next week — and we're taking a break to do some growing. When we come back in November, we'll be bringing you multiple episodes a week. In the meantime, follow us and keep in touch on Twitter and Instagram (@ajthetake) and on Facebook (@thetakepod) — we love hearing from you.
We're away for a bit — then back with much more
October 04, 2019 04:00 - 1 minute - 1.03 MBThe Take turns a year old next week — and we're taking a break to do some growing. When we come back in November, we'll be bringing you multiple episodes a week. In the meantime, follow us and keep in touch on Twitter and Instagram (@ajthetake) and on Facebook (@thetakepod) — we love hearing from you.
Are Palestinians in Israel having a political moment?
September 27, 2019 04:00 - 16 minutes - 15.1 MBPalestinian voters turned out in record numbers in the Israeli election with a key motivation — to dethrone Benjamin Netanyahu. They may still get stuck with him as prime minister, but for the first time in more than two decades, they’ve become real players in Israeli politics. Will this lead to the formation of a Palestinian political opposition, or could this send them back into political exile?
The Rohingya face mobile phone blackouts
September 20, 2019 04:00 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MBLast week we got a WhatsApp message from a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh. It might be one of the last messages he can send. The Bangladeshi government is moving to ban the sale of SIM cards to a million Rohingya there. This week, we take you to the world’s biggest refugee camp to learn what a communications blackout could mean for the Rohingya.
The rise and fall of Venezuela’s ultimate oil city
September 13, 2019 04:00 - 22 minutes - 20.3 MBThe booming oil city of Maracaibo once epitomized the promise that was Venezuela. But it’s been in trouble for years: power cuts, devastating oil spills and political and economic crises. Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo explains how the city now embodies what Venezuela has become — the poorest country that should be rich.
Inside the Taliban talks
September 06, 2019 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBUS generals and Taliban commanders have been sitting in five-star hotels in Qatar, trying to knock out a peace deal to end the war in Afghanistan. The details are few, the Afghan government wasn’t invited, and success is far from certain. In Afghanistan, the only thing people know for sure is that the death toll keeps rising.
Life in the Brexit row
August 30, 2019 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MBThree years after the United Kingdom voted to break off from the European Union, the country is still trying to understand what Brexit means and how it will happen. Al Jazeera’s London correspondent Laurence Lee and presenter Maryam Nemazee explain how the former empire came to vote for its own drawn-out divorce.
Hong Kong’s long game to secure democracy
August 23, 2019 04:00 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBThere have been three months of unrest in Hong Kong, and the protests keep growing. This week, we’re exploring the roots of the city’s pro-democracy movement, the old demands that have long gone unanswered and how today’s youth are looking to Bruce Lee in their strategy to secure political reform.
Why is the US tracking journalists and immigration advocates?
August 16, 2019 04:00 - 21 minutes - 19.8 MBThey were interrogated at airports, and scrutinized at US-Mexico border crossings. Then leaked documents proved their suspicions: The US government is targeting private citizens. We speak to an Al Jazeera journalist who has been questioned repeatedly at the border, and a human rights advocate who says the US could be targeting more people.
While we're out, subscribe to Al Jazeera's headlines show
August 02, 2019 07:00 - 49 seconds - 802 KBThe Take will be back August 16. In the meantime, subscribe to Your World for twice-daily updates from Al Jazeera.
Hiring a hangman in Sri Lanka
July 26, 2019 04:00 - 17 minutes - 15.9 MBSri Lanka hasn’t executed a prisoner in 43 years, but the country’s president recently signed death warrants for four people convicted of drug crimes. And he advertised for executioners. Why does Maithripala Sirisena want to end a moratorium on capital punishment?
Undercover with white supremacists
July 19, 2019 04:00 - 21 minutes - 19.7 MBAl Jazeera investigated a far-right group in France for a year, exposing violence, racism and surprising ties to one of the country’s mainstream political parties. We revisit Imtiaz Tyab's talk with journalist David Harrison about the investigation — which prompted a police probe and arrests.
How a school for husbands is tackling rape culture
July 12, 2019 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MBAfter cases of child rape made headlines in Sierra Leone this year, the government declared a national emergency around sexual violence. This week, we meet two people who made the fight personal.
The Israeli spyware that can target you with a text
July 05, 2019 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBJournalists and human rights activists from Mexico to the Middle East are being targeted by spyware purchased by their governments. This week, we talk to Josh Rushing from Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines team about the software suite that can turn your cell phone into someone else’s secret weapon.
How bloodshed in Mali’s villages threatens the region
June 28, 2019 04:00 - 21 minutes - 20 MBThe fighting in Mali looks like a tribal conflict, but it’s much bigger than that. This week, we’re reporting from a new front in the West African nation, out of the public eye. An absent government is letting old rivalries flare, groups like Al Qaeda are fueling the fire, and a major UN peacekeeping mission can’t stop the unprecedented violence.
Sudan’s muted massacre
June 21, 2019 04:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBScores of protesters were killed at a sit-in in Khartoum, Sudan on June 3. Al Jazeera journalists were in the city, but banned from reporting — the military government had shut down the bureau days before. Now, they tell us what they saw and heard. For one correspondent, it hits close to home.
Australia’s offshore refugees
June 14, 2019 04:00 - 20 minutes - 18.9 MBIf you’re a refugee and you arrive in Australia by boat, the government will never let you in. Security forces tow away boats, and asylum seekers are sent to detention centers on remote islands. This week, we meet a doctor-turned-whistleblower who saw what happens in those camps, and a refugee who spent nearly five years in one.
The fate of kids who cross the US border alone
June 07, 2019 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.1 MBThis spring, tens of thousands of children have come to the US-Mexico border alone seeking asylum. Some have died in government custody. What's happening to unaccompanied minors who try to cross into the US, and where will they end up? This week, we hear from one teen who jumped the fence.
Europe's splintering Union
May 31, 2019 06:06 - 26 minutes - 24.1 MBA new European Parliament is ready for swearing in, and it's as divided as its 28 member states. The centrist parties have suffered heavy losses. Far-right and far-left parties gained some ground. Where did the EU come from, and with this last election, where is it headed?
Iran, the US and the standoff in the strait
May 24, 2019 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.4 MBIt seemed like a recipe for conflict: Take the Iran nuclear deal, add a dash of John Bolton and some US warships, and top it off with a mysterious sabotage of oil tankers near one of the most sensitive stretches of water in the world. We take you there to examine just how close the US and Iran have come to the edge of war.
Al Jazeera infiltrates the NRA
May 17, 2019 08:36 - 27 minutes - 25 MBIt started with a reporter’s curiosity and led to a three-year undercover investigation into the world's most powerful gun lobby. Al Jazeera’s investigative unit uncovered a link between the NRA and Australia's far right.
India's missing voters
May 10, 2019 04:00 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBIf you want to deny somebody the vote in India, you can ask the government to strip somebody from the voter list with just a name and a web connection. Is that why millions of Indians, many of them minorities, are being turned away from the polls — or are they just victims of bureaucracy?
South Africa's original sin
May 03, 2019 06:43 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBIt's the foundation that apartheid was built on: the theft of indigenous land. Taking it back is complicated. With just a few days before elections, we look at how land motivates some South Africans to vote out of fear and others out of frustration.
Life in Jerusalem
April 26, 2019 04:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBA Muslim scholar and a Christian Palestinian researcher. A proud Zionist and an ex-settler. In this week's episode, the filmmaker behind Al Jazeera's new documentary “Jerusalem: A Rock and a Hard Place” guides us through the Holy City to meet the people who call it home.
Preview: Life in Jerusalem
April 19, 2019 04:00 - 6 minutes - 6.3 MBTens of thousands of Christians are in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem for Easter. But you won't find many Palestinians at the holy sites. This week, a conversation you haven't heard before, from the filmmakers of Al Jazeera's new documentary, “Jerusalem: A Rock and a Hard Place.” Next week, we dive deeper into a divided city.
Cameroon's hashtag war
April 12, 2019 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.6 MBCameroon is at war with itself. The country has found itself in a bloody battle between the minority Anglophone citizens and the majority Francophone citizens. We look at how Al Jazeera has covered the conflict as it's unfolded through social media and on the field. Also: What's next for Sudan? The military has just ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir, ending his 30-year rule.
Revisiting Khashoggi's murder, six months later
April 05, 2019 04:00 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MBWhat have we learned in the aftermath of the Saudi journalist's death?
Mueller's done. What's next for Trump?
March 29, 2019 08:31 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBRobert Mueller’s report couldn’t establish collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia. But there are many questions left unanswered. Al Jazeera’s investigative unit reveals how the Mueller report could expose the paper trail of Trump's lucrative foreign investments.
From neo-Nazis to New Zealand
March 22, 2019 04:00 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBThe Oklahoma City bombing, Charlottesville, the attacks in Christchurch: Acts of violence show the far reach of the far right. We hear from a former neo-Nazi on why he left the movement, and from a survivor of the mosque attacks in New Zealand.
Can Syrians go home?
March 15, 2019 04:00 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MBBashar al Assad’s government has regained control over much of Syria, but the war isn't over. For many Syrian refugees, there's pressure to go home. Why are some in Lebanon choosing to return, even while the vast majority are not?
Making it out of North Korea
March 08, 2019 05:00 - 22 minutes - 20.9 MBNuclear weapons keep North Korea in the headlines, but behind the scenes, the Kim regime keeps the country's people in an iron grip. Jihyun Park was one of those people, and she wants to know why politicians aren't talking about human rights.
Where will the women of ISIL go?
March 01, 2019 05:40 - 20 minutes - 19.1 MBISIL’s so-called caliphate is almost gone, but its people are not. Thousands of women and children lived under ISIL — by force, by choice, or by birth. And there's a media frenzy over what to do with them.
Coffee, jazz and politics in post-revolution Iran
February 22, 2019 05:00 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBIt's been 40 years since Iran's 1979 revolution, and two generations have grown up with religious rule. In an era of economic insecurity, what do they want for the future?
Africa's largest democracy votes
February 15, 2019 05:00 - 22 minutes - 20.3 MBNigeria's economy is a shambles and civil conflict looms. Voters are choosing between two elderly candidates, but apathy is high in a young population.
Who is Juan Guaido?
February 08, 2019 05:01 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBThe man who has declared himself Venezuela's new leader has friends in the U.S. What does the White House's blessing mean for those who want to oust existing president Nicolas Maduro?
Dying to save lives in Sudan
February 01, 2019 05:01 - 24 minutes - 22.9 MBAttacks on doctors are fueling a popular uprising in Sudan. It's beginning to look like the end of Omar al-Bashir's 30-year rule.
A Year at the Gaza Border
December 21, 2018 05:00 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MBFor nine months, Palestinians have been protesting at the fence that divides the Gaza Strip from Israel. Hundreds have died, many from Israeli sniper fire. Nearly 20,000 have been wounded. And the weekly protests are still going on. Al Jazeera English correspondent Stefanie Dekker tells host Imtiaz Tyab what she saw in Gaza in 2018. Tell us what you think of the show: https://goo.gl/RhPjj4
France and the Far Right
December 14, 2018 04:58 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBAl Jazeera went undercover to investigate a far-right group in France, exposing violence, racism and surprising ties to one of the country’s mainstream political parties. Host Imtiaz Tyab talks with journalist David Harrison about the investigation. Tell us what you think of the show: https://goo.gl/SeuNtU
Colorism in South Sudan
December 07, 2018 08:00 - 29 minutes - 27 MBSkin bleaching is common around the world. In South Sudan, years of conflict, displacement and discrimination mean the practice is about a lot more than skin color — it’s about identity after independence. Producer Jasmin Bauomy brings us the story. Tell us what you think of the show: https://goo.gl/EeSUja
The Gay Rights Battle in Taiwan
November 30, 2018 08:01 - 18 minutes - 16.9 MBVoters in Taiwan delivered a crushing blow to the country’s ruling party and the island’s gay rights movement in local elections last Sunday, despite a 2017 court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. Host Imtiaz Tyab talks with Al Jazeera correspondent Adrian Brown and Victoria Hsu, executive director of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnerships. Tell us what you think of the show: https://goo.gl/8EEQjH
Asylum at the Border
November 23, 2018 08:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBMigrants, asylum seekers, invaders: all have been used to describe the people traveling from Central America to the U.S. The words we choose to tell their stories matter. Al Jazeera correspondent Heidi Zhou-Castro gives us the latest from Tijuana, and senior journalist Barry Malone explains why the word “migrant” doesn’t tell the whole story. Tell us what you think of the show here: https://goo.gl/VvtAvw
Darfur’s Forgotten War
November 16, 2018 13:36 - 20 minutes - 19 MBThe conflict in Darfur has shadowed Sudanese president Omar al Bashir for more than a decade. But now, he may be coming to the table with rebel leaders to broker a peace deal. Host Imtiaz Tyab talks with Al Jazeera correspondent Hiba Morgan about the war that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. Tell us what you think of the show here: goo.gl/HN4cBU
Checking Trump
November 09, 2018 08:00 - 23 minutes - 21.3 MBThe Republican party held the Senate and Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 US midterm elections. What does that mean for a President who, until now, has had few checks on his power? And what should the rest of the world take away from this election? Tell us what you think of the show here: https://goo.gl/5pLrRt
Khashoggi: Killing the Messenger
November 02, 2018 19:00 - 24 minutes - 22 MBJamal Khashoggi was working from within the Arab world to push the boundaries of press freedom. What does his death mean for the Middle East? Tell us what you think of the show here: https://goo.gl/Tc8D8K