Every year brings its crises, conflicts, and different forms of oppression, with no region being completely safe from anything terrible that can unfold.
But can we notice the good things, too?
This is what I do in my episode – in fact, the third year in a row now.
I think there is tremendous value in expanding our view when it comes to “how the world is doing”. Having a podcast where I mostly talk about what bad happened, to look for victories worth celebrating becomes a refreshing task. It’s also something that can give us hope and spring us into action. We are, after all, capable of affecting change and how that world is doing, from year to year.
So, where was that change affected positively last year?
In my episode, I will go to the UK where a major victory against Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer, happened at the beginning of 2022.
Then, we’ll go to Cuba which approved a new Family Code, called one of the most progressive pieces of legislation in the world by some.
Finally, I invite you to Brazil – where I actually happen to be at the moment! – to better understand why the presidential victory of Luis Inácio Lula da Silva brings so much hope to the country, after four years of far-right politics. For a dive into a series of criminal acts that allowed the previous president, Jair Bolsonaro, to get into power, please listen to my older episode here.
If you got curious, where can you go from here?
I have some suggestions:
Learn more about Palestine Action and their #ShutElbitDown campaign here:
Read more about the shutting down of Elbit’s factory in Oldham here. Learn about Elbit’s role in Israel’s violence against the Palestinians here.
To learn more about Cuba’s Family Code, please see an article by Reuters and by Peoples Dispatch.
Click here to see the picture of Lula’s inauguration that I refer to in my episode. For in-depth analyses of Brazilian politics, including Lula’s third term in office, follow The Brazilian Report.
Receive my work directly to your inbox:
Latest from the Blog
From Cuba to Palestine: Beware Those Who Seek to See Hospitals Run Out of Fuel
What we’re seeing in Cuba is an intensification of imperial violence by those who have been unleashing it on Palestine, too. The parallels here are many, including how the mentality of a coloniser cannot be more on display here.
Continue reading
Have You Witnessed Democratic Mechanisms Being Eroded on Live TV? Here’s An Example
If you couldn’t believe what you were seeing during Pam Bondi’s, the U.S. Attorney General’s testimony in a House Judicial Committee hearing on the Epstein files, here’s how to make sense of it. It’s also why it is terrifying.
Continue reading
From Palestine to The Epstein Files: Will You Demand Justice or Embrace Collective Amnesia?
It is not only the violence by the ones in power that the Epstein files resemble Israel’s destruction of Gaza – it’s about the (potential) collective amnesia, too.
Continue reading
How Fascist Regimes See Growing up, Standing up for People, and Writing Poems as Threats
Hind Rajab was killed by Israeli forces two years ago today – and that is one of the threads of history that I talk about in my essay-like video. It’s about fascism, its victims, the heaviness of witnessing these horrors, and how we can move forward.
Continue reading
On U.S. State Violence: A Continuation, Not a Rupture
The recent murder of Alex Pretti by ICE agents is one painfully clear indication – or, rather, a reminder – that in the U.S, the violence abroad has come back as fascism at home.
Continue reading
After Having Enabled It for Decades, The EU Is Appalled by U.S. Imperialism — Only When It Threatens Its Shores
After having enabled U.S. and Israeli military aggression around the world, notice the EU appeal to international law when the territorial integrity of Denmark is threatened by the U.S.
Continue reading
The Exploding Head Media 