EQUALS: Reimagining Our Economy

As we head to COP29 with climate finance taking centre stage, join Max and Nafkote for an insightful discussion. This episode features Meena Raman, a veteran activist and Head of Programs at Third World Network. Together, they explore the pressing $5 trillion climate debt, the call for reparations, and the main obstacles in climate finance negotiations.Discover how taxing the wealthy and redirecting war funds can help build a better world for all.Tune in to learn more about ensuring climate justice and find out how you can make a difference. Don’t forget to like, share, comment, and leave us a review.Follow us on X @EQUALShope and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the summer of 2024, Kenya ignited with protests against the controversial Finance Bill 2024. This legislation threatened to impose heavy taxes on essential goods, sparking widespread outrage.In this episode, Grazielle and Nafkote delve deep into the movement with Grace Wendo, a passionate youth activist and student leader from Kenya. We explore the underlying factors that fuelled the protests: Was it solely about taxes, or were deeper grievances at play? Did the government truly address the people's concerns? And what impact did these demonstrations have?Tune in to uncover the power of the people, the role of the IMF, and the historic events that shook a nation.As always, like, share, comment and leave us a review. You can find us on X at @EQUALShope and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jayati Ghosh is an incredible activist, campaigner, academic and thinker. She is leading the fight on so many issues key to the fight against inequality. In this fascinating interview hear her sharp analysis of issues from colonialism to care, and from tax to climate, and what we need to do to win.As always, like, share and leave us a review. You can find us on X at @EQUALShope and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we launch our new season focusing on fighting inequality, Max and Grazielle host Oxfam’s new Executive Director, Amitabh Behar.From growing up in Bhopal, India, a city infamous for the chemical leak by a US corporate that killed thousands, Amitabh talks us through his life experiences and how they have shaped his thinking and his passion to fight inequality and advocate for social justice and human dignity. Of the urgent need to build people’s power to demand a more equal world.As always, like, share and leave us a review. You can find us on X at @EQUALShope and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) continue to negotiate the Pandemic Accord, Max and Grazielle interviews Nick Dearden on Pharma patents, monopolies and greed that makes them price medical tools out of reach by people who need them.They also discuss how the public funded research changes hand to be a patent for big pharmaceutical companies whose only concern is to make profit rather than save lives.Nick Dearden is the Director of Global Justice Now and the author of Pharmanomics a book on how big pharma destroy global health.As always, please leave us a review and connect us on X and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine someone owing you money, but instead of paying you, they offer you a loan with conditions on how to use it. That is the how climate financing looks like according to Fadhel Kaboub.Fadhel, hosted by Max and Nafkote, breaks down bit by bit, the situation in climate financing and why it is impossible to have just transition within the structures of colonialism and extractivism.Fadhel is an associate professor of economics at Denison University (on leave), and the president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. He serves as the Senior Advisor to Power Shift Africa.Remember to share the podcast and leave a review! You can find us on X at @EQUALShope and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine a private company creating its own jurisdiction in a sovereign country. It sets up its own laws, currency, and tax, labour and environmental regulations regardless of their compatibility with national laws. And when the democratically elected government steps in, the company sues it in little-known ‘corporate courts’ for billions of dollars citing its projected financial loss. Listen to our dystopian story of how the private sector is “buying up sovereignty” and the shocking abuses of power now happening.Nabil and Max interview the amazing Ana Arendar on corporate owned-and-run cities in Honduras and the Caribbean Islands and how countries, both in Global North and Global South, are fighting back.Ana is the Campaign Strategist for Progressive International.Remember to share the podcast and leave a review! You can find us on X at @EQUALShope and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of EQUALS, we talk about how wealth and power defy gravity by making water flow… upwards!Max and Nafkote interview Sushmita Mandal about water inequality and how climate breakdown is already affecting water access for people around the world.Sushmita shares amazing stories about a young boy in India (who observed water flowing upwards from his community to posh apartment buildings), ecosystems on the Mekong River and a dam threatening fishers’ livelihoods.Sushmita Mandal is a Senior Research Fellow for Water, Food and Ecosystems at Stockholm’s Environmental Institute in Asia.As always, please leave us a review and connect us on X and on LinkedIn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On International Women’s Day, Max and Nafkote interviewed Bhumika Muchhala, a development and feminist economist, on the possibility of being a feminist in an economic system that thrives on the exploitation of people and nature. This episode explores the importance of the way our global economy is organized in understanding the fight for gender equality. How issues like labour rights, fair taxation and debt cancellation are feminist issues.Bhumika is the Political Economist and Senior Advisor at Third World Network.As always remember to share the podcast on social media and leave a review! You can find us on X at @EQUALShope. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nafkote and Max interview Dr. Faiza Shaheen on how capitalism has failed on its main selling point – work hard and you will succeed. The idea that everyone has equal opportunity in life is just a myth. Your success in life is significantly influenced by where you are born, your social class, race, and education.This episode is a powerful critique of our system - one that perpetuates wealth concentration among the rich while leaving the majority behind.Faiza Shaheen is Professor of Economics at London School of Economics and the author of the book Know Your Place.Remember to share the podcast on social media and leave a review! You can find us on Twitter at @EQUALShope. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Max and Nafkote interview the brilliant Dr. Clara Mattei on the history of austerity and how it was created to maintain “the capital order”. Austerity today the world over remains a favored tool of policymakers. And yet it is far more than just a policy. We examine the roots of austerity and its fundamental role in entrenching capital, and disciplining people to never dare to create alternative economic systems. Dr. Clara Mattei is Associate Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research. She is the author of The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved The Way to Fascism. Remember to share the podcast on social media and leave a review! You can find us on Twitter at @EQUALShope. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nafkote and Nabil welcome the pioneering Senegalese development economist Ndongo Samba Sylla onto EQUALS.We talk about the untold vision of former Burkina Faso President Thomas Sankara for economic liberation.The role of the French colonial currency in today’s world.What Modern Monetary Theory can mean to the Global South.And what a Green Bandung Woods – picking up from where liberation leaders left off – can do to rethink the global financial architecture.Ndongo Samba Sylla is a Senegalese development economist. He has previously worked as a technical advisor at the Presidency of the Republic of Senegal, and is Programme manager at the West Africa office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. He is the co-author of Africa’s Last Colonial Currency: The CFA Franc Story and author of The Fair Trade Scandal.As always, do leave us a review and follow us on social media. We’re at @EQUALShope on Twitter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Max and Nafkote interview the world-famous economist Professor Ha Joon Chang to ask what is causing the inequality crisis and what governments can do to stop it.How are traffic lights, neoliberalism, and the Catholic Church in medieval times linked? How can we create a new generation of developmental states that face down corporates and build equal societies? An EQUALS episode not to be missed, with a giant of economic thinking.As ever follow us on Twitter and leave us a review. Tune in to our new season’s previous episodes on Wall Street Consensus by Daniela Gabor and Climate inequality with Oxfam’s Climate Inequality minds.Read Inequality Inc., Oxfam's latest inequality report. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EQUALS is back. Max and Nabil speak to Dr. Daniela Gabor, who says we’ve entered a new era of the “Wall Street Consensus”. Her macro analysis is lighting up debates around the world about how much power we’re giving up to global private finance - and what exactly comes after neoliberalism.Daniela, Professor of Economics and Macro-Finance at UWE Bristol, breaks down what is driving this new paradigm, how it drives inequality, and what a true alternative - a Big Green State - looks like.As ever follow us on Twitter, leave a review, and tune into past episodes from interviewing Professor Verene Shepherd on reparative justice to PilAto on music as political power.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing a new EQUALS season and our new podcast co-host, Nafkote Dabi, Climate Policy Lead at Oxfam International.Joining Nafkote and Max in this episode are Astrid Nilsson Lewis and Ashfaq Khalfan. Together, they delve into the latest Oxfam report “Climate Equality: A planet for the 99%” How are the climate and inequality crises intertwined?In this episode, we expose the profound disparities stemming from the dual crises of climate breakdown and staggering inequality. We uncover the extent of this twin disaster that is currently gripping the world.As always, we provide a ray of hope by exploring how a global redistribution of incomes could raise everyone to a level of $25 a day, all while effectively curbing carbon emissions. Astrid Nilsson Lewis, Oxfam Sweden's Lead Researcher on Climate, and Ashfaq Khalfan, Oxfam America's Director of Climate Justice, offer their insights on these critical issues.Don't miss out on this important conversation! Share the podcast on your social media platforms and be sure to leave us a review. Connect with us on X @EQUALShope. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A season five wrap-up with just the co-hosts! Nadia is sadly leaving the podcast (and Oxfam). The co-hosts get together to look back on their time together and reflect on over fifty episodes of EQUALS. We’ll be back for season six folks. Inequality’s sky-high. The fight’s on this decade but there’s hope. You’ve asked us to cover issues from the global debt crisis facing developing countries to the new scramble for minerals across the world. Join us then - watch this space!Follow us on @EQUALShope on Twitter and as ever share the podcast with your family and friends.The EQUALS team has launched an Equals Substack newsletter. Please Read our newsletters and subscribe now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nadia and Nabil interview Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz to ask just how dire the state of inequality is - and what we’ve got to do about it.  Is it realistic to tax the richest at rates above 70%? What’s the connection between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and IMF-backed austerity in low income countries?An EQUALS episode not to be missed with a giant of economic thinking.Make sure you share the podcast on social media and write a review! We’re at @EQUALShope on Twitter.With Nabil Ahmed and Nadia Daar.The views expressed in episodes do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast and its producers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How exactly can rich countries address their past wrongs of slavery and colonialism? Well, there’s a plan. Jamaican scholar and UN leader Verene Shepherd outline what Caribbean nations have called for.This EQUALS episode is the second of a two-part special on reparations. In the first episode, we heard the case for reparations – and went back to the 15th century to the moment European men began an era of the slave trade of colonialism.Now we ask “how”. Nabil and Nadia speak to Professor Shepherd about the CARICOM reparations plan, and what it means for issues like debt and aid. And then they ask Zambian scholar Dr. Grieve Chelwa about what this means for Africa.Professor Verene Shepherd is a social historian and the Director of the Centre for Reparation Research at The University of the West Indies. She is the Chair of the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and was Vice Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Reparation Commission.Dr. Grieve Chelwa is the Director of Research at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School, and formerly a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Economics at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. Before that, he was the Inaugural Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for African Studies at Harvard University.Make sure you share the podcast on social media and leave a review! We’re at @EQUALShope on Twitter.The views expressed in episodes do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast and its producers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start on the shores of the Caribbean islands of the 15th century. As white European men landed on its shores, the story of centuries of colonialism and slavery, and today’s global inequality begins.This EQUALS is the first of a two-part special on the case for reparations. Nabil and Nadia speak with the Jamaican scholar Professor Verene Shepherd who with others across the world is demanding repair for those atrocities.Professor Verene Shepherd is a social historian and the Director of the Centre for Reparation Research at The University of the West Indies. She is the Chair the United Nation’s Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and was Vice Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Reparation Commission.Make sure you share the podcast on social media and leave a review! We’re at @EQUALShope on Twitter.The views expressed in episodes do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast and its producers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Nafkote Dabi, Harjeet Singh, and extinction rebellion activist Teun Ott join Max and Nadia to talk about billionaires, inequality, and climate breakdown.Nafkote and Harjeet joined us directly from the COP last week. Nafkote, Climate Lead at Oxfam describes how billionaires contribute to carbon emissions not only through their lifestyles but also through their investments. Harjeet, Head of Global political strategy at Climate Action Network tells us about Loss and Damage and the capture of the COP by corporates and billionaires. Teun, a young climate activist from Extinction Rebellion tells us about the occupation he took part in blocking the private planes of the super-rich at Schipol airport in the Netherlands.The latest in our EQUALS season on the climate crisis and carbon billionaires. Do tune in!Do leave us a review and follow us on social media. We’re at @EQUALShope on Twitter.The views expressed in episodes do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast and its producers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.