Bench Press Podcast

Hey everyone! Thank you very much for all your support throughout this very first season of Bench Press Podcast! In this final episode of Season 1, we share with you some of our thoughts and behind-the-scenes stories throughout the making of this podcast. Overall, this podcast has been a great learning experience for us, especially considering that this was our first time making a podcast of this kind. We still have a lot of room for improvement, so let us know in the comments what you think of this season, and stay tuned for more content from us in the future!

National identity is a peculiar thing. As a form of collective identity, national identity has the ability to connect a large number of people with one another based on national borders, even when they have never met one another. Although national identity can unite people of different backgrounds, it can also create conflict, such as by rallying people against others who don't share the same national identity. At other times, the weakening of national identities may also result in separatist tendencies that sometimes become violent. Thus, how exactly are national identities formed and what are their effects on peace issues?  To approach this topic, we have invited our friend James from Singapore to give us some insights into the formation of national identity in his country.  

Cancel culture is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can be used to empower the voices of marginalized groups and give sanctions to unprosecuted criminals when the justice system fails to do so. On the other hand, cancel culture may also undermine the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" and create echo chambers that oversimplify complex issues. While cancel culture is often seen as an American phenomenon, the borderless nature of the internet and social media has made participation in cancel culture a global phenomenon. In this #casuallyserious episode, we try to discuss the double-edged nature of cancel culture and see things from both perspectives.

In September 2020, the Indian government approved 3 new farming acts known collectively as the Indian Agriculture Acts of 2020. The idea behind the initiative was to modernize India’s agriculture sector and to empower the farmers in India. However, the bills have received a lot of backlash from the farmers' community, especially from the Northern States of Punjab and Haryana, who are concerned that the bills would harm their livelihoods. Tens of thousands of Indian farmers have taken matters to the street demanding the government to repeal the laws. To shed some light on this issue, we have invited our friend Tripti Gupta from Ritsumeikan University to join us in this episode and share with us some insights into the protests.

When we think about peace, we tend to think about large-scale issues such as wars and state-sanctioned violence. However, issues of peace can also be found in our direct environment. One example of that is the problem of bullying, which seems to be prevalent in many schools around the world. So in this episode, we share with you some of our own experiences and observations of bullying and try to explore its causes and possible solutions.

On the morning of 1 February 2021, the armed forces of Myanmar seized control of the Myanmar government in a coup against the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) party. The coup was staged over claims of election fraud and the military has since put the elected members of NLD under house arrest. This incident has been met with strong resistance from the people of Myanmar who are currently fighting to restore the country's democracy. However, how did things get to this point and what does the future have in store for Myanmar and its people? To help us answer this question, we have invited Dr. Adhi Priamarizki from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies to be our guest speaker for today's episode.

In this episode, we are starting a series called "Casually Serious" where, instead of inviting a guest, the four of us hosts talk casually among ourselves about a serious topic of our choice. For the first episode of this series, we had a chat about the concerns and controversies surrounding the 2020 Winter Olympics that is scheduled to be held this coming July 2021.

Welcome to the very first episode of Bench Press Podcast! In this premiere episode, we take a look into the progress and challenges of the world's COVID-19 vaccination efforts, using Singapore as a case study. While COVID-19 may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about peace, it is nonetheless a very important issue relating to peace as it threatens our livelihoods and our abilities to go about our daily activities safely. As the pandemic continues to impact our lives, we thought that this would be the most appropriate topic to discuss in our first episode. To facilitate the discussion, we have invited our friend Jenniefer who works in one of Singapore's private healthcare institutions to inform us of the COVID-19 vaccination efforts in Singapore. Let us know in the comments what you think of this episode. And if you like this video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel! Hosts: Aki Koyama Irvan Joe Adhiqa Iqbal Benedict Andrew Links: Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVE78sWN3vCHedLnu6pjxQA Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/benchpresspod?igshid=osuuw03okgca References and further reading: 1. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/23/national/japan-vaccine-history-coronavirus/ 2. https://www.nature.com/articles/526323d

Hello everyone and welcome to Bench Press! Bench Press is a podcast that aims to provide the youth with a platform for constructive dialogues surrounding the topic of "peace".

Hello everyone and welcome to Bench Press! Bench Press is a podcast that aims to provide the youth with a platform for constructive dialogues surrounding the topic of "peace". In this pre-launch episode, we share with you some information about ourselves and what this podcast is about.  We will be launching our very first episode on 1 May 2021, so mark your calendars, and don't forget to subscribe to our channel!